UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


THE  GIFT  OF 

MAY  TREAT  MORRISON 

IN  MEMORY  OF 

ALEXANDER  F  MORRISON 


f 


LINCOLN,   LEE,   GRANT 


FRONTISPIECE 


Lincoln,   Lee,  Grant 

AND 

Other  Biographical  Addresses 


BY 
JUDGE  EMORY  SPEER 


NEW  YORK  AND  WASHINGTON 

THE  NEALE  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

1909 


Copyright.  1909,  by 
The  Neale  Publishing  Company 


TO 
MY  MOTHER 

Whose  eyes,  still  beautiful  and  soft,  first  saw  the 
light  when  friends  of  Olgethorpe  were  in  vigorous 
life ;  Erskine  but  three  years  gone ;  Hamilton  still 
deplored  by  many  comrades  of  Yorktown  and 
Valley  Forge ;  Marshall  with  eight  years  to  live ; 
Lincoln  and  Lee  were  lads;  and  Brown  and 
Grant,  little  boys — this  book  is  lovingly  inscribed. 


438111 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION 1 1 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 19 

ROBERT  EDWARD  LEE 45 

ULYSSES  S.  GRANT 85 

JAMES  EDWARD  OGLETHORPE 109 

ALEXANDER  HAMILTON 151 

JOHN  MARSHALL 179 

ERSKINE 209 

JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN 227 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING  PAGE 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 19 

ROBERT  EDWARD  LEE 45 

ULYSSES  S.  GRANT 45 

JAMES  EDWARD  OGLETHORPE 109 

ALEXANDER  HAMILTON 151 

JOHN  MARSHALL 179 

ERSKINE 209 

JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN 227 


INTRODUCTION. 

BY   CHARLES   RAY   PALMER,    D.D. 

Sir  James  Stephen  wrote  some  sixty  years  ago, 
"A  chain  of  splendid  biographies  constitutes  the 
history  of  past  centuries."  Well-nigh  inevitably, 
as  we  turn  our  eyes  backward,  our  search  is  for  the 
men  in  whom  their  time  had  its  fullest  embodiment. 
Our  feeling  is  that  a  period  is  best  studied  in  its 
leaders,  whether  we  think  they  made  it  or  were  the 
product  of  it.  Through  human  sympathies  we 
gather  our  best  understanding  of  events.  Doubt- 
less this  habit  may  lead  us  astray,  in  respect  of  de- 
tails, but  it  fastens  attention  upon  large  outlines 
securely.  Biographical  studies  do  not,  indeed, 
attract  all  minds  alike,  nor  always  proportionately 
to  their  real  merit.  With  some  it  is  the  fashion 
to  belittle  their  usefulness.  It  has  been  said  that 
every  biography  must  be  unsatisfying  to  those  who 
loved  the  subject  of  it,  and  misleading  to  others. 
So  much  of  life  cannot  be  recorded;  so  little  of  it 
appears  in  the  spoken  word,  or  the  outward  act, 
or  even  in  the  written  lines.  Those  without  the 
love  do  not  apprehend  the  rich  significance  of  a 
life;  those  who  loved  must  keep  their  secret.  It 
is  beyond  their  power  to  impart  it.  In  this  we  may 
recognize  much  truth,  and  yet  now  and  then  a 
biography  belies  it,  and  finds  for  itself  a  way  into 
the  hearts  of  multitudes,  enlightening  and  quick- 
ening their  interest  in  life  and  stirring  laudable 
aspirations  for  which  the  world  becomes  the  better. 

If  more  elaborate  biography  has  special  difficul- 
11 


12  INTRODUCTION 

ties  to  overcome,  the  orator  or  lecturer  whose 
theme  is  biographical  encounters  these  difficulties 
intensified.  Accurately  to  describe  a  man's  historical 
environment  in  all  its  complexity,  and  set  him  in  his 
true  relationship  to  it,  showing  in  vivid  outlines 
how  his  character  was  shaped  and  his  achievements 
were  determined,  is  not  the  task  of  an  hour.  The 
glowing  pages  of  a  biographer,  perused  in  the 
leisure  of  our  library,  may  bear  us  into  the  depths 
of  an  illustrious  life  or  a  great  human  movement, 
when  the  very  brevity  of  his  opportunity  may  with- 
hold the  orator  of  an  occasion  from  that  success, 
however  earnestly  he  endeavors  to  effect  it.  But 
such  endeavors,  manfully  and  thoughtfully  made, 
are  sometimes  exceedingly  impressive  and  fruitful 
of  impulses  that  are  abiding.  If  the  men  who  can 
make  them  are  few,  they  are  among  the  most  use- 
ful of  a  nation's  teachers. 

The  papers  collected  in  this  volume  are  mani- 
festly efforts  in  this  difficult  direction.  They  were 
more  or  less  occasional,  and  something  is  irrecov- 
erably lost  when  an  occasion  has  passed.  The  atti- 
tude of  a  reader  is  different  from  that  of  a  listener 
uplifted  by  a  memorable  anniversary  or  upon  the 
sympathies  of  a  great  assembly.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  known  personality  of  a  writer,  or  some- 
thing in  his  history,  or  the  particular  subject  of  his 
discourse,  may  lend  interest  to  the  printed  page  or 
give  him  an  audience  beyond  the  occasion,  which 
only  the  printed  page  can  reach.  The  power  of 
the  spoken  or  of  the  written  word  depends  very 
much  upon  whose  word  it  is. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  speak  particularly  of 
one  so  conspicuously  before  the  public  as  the  judge 
of  a  United  States  court,  or  of  so  striking  a  per- 


INTRODUCTION  13 

sonality  as  Judge  Speer.  It  is  nevertheless  true 
that  these  addresses,  even  if  they  must  be  regarded 
as  a  by-product  of  his  life,  derive  significance  from 
his  special  relation  to  his  time.  Born  just  before 
the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  son  of  a 
clergyman  in  the  Empire  State  of  the  South,  in  the 
last  year  of  the  Civil  War  a  Confederate  soldier, 
but  sixteen  years  old  at  the  date  of  the  surrender, 
he  acquired  such  education  as  was  possible  for  him 
in  the  disastrous  years  succeeding  that  struggle, 
and  addressed  himself  to  the  problem  of  his  life 
with  most  creditable  courage  and  resolution. 
Graduating  from  the  University  of  Georgia  in 
1869,  he  was  soon  admitted  to  the  bar.  His  prog- 
ress was  such  that  in  January,  1873,  ne  became 
Solicitor-General  of  the  State,  under  the  first  Dem- 
ocratic Governor  subsequent  to  the  war.  In  the 
midsummer  of  1876  he  resigned  his  office,  resum- 
ing private  practice.  In  1878  he  was  elected  to 
Congress  as  an  Independent  Democrat.  He  was 
re-elected  in  1880  as  an  Independent  with  Repub- 
lican affiliations.  He  was  again  a  candidate  in 
1882,  but  failed  to  receive  a  certificate  of  election. 
On  the  day  after  the  expiration  of  his  second  term, 
in  March,  1883,  he  was  appointed  by  President 
Arthur  the  United  States  District  Attorney  in  his 
native  State,  and  within  two  years  afterwards  to 
the  position  which,  with  growing  reputation,  he 
has  since  continuously  held.  Incidentally  to  this 
honorable  career,  he  has  done  valued  educational 
work  as  the  head  of  the  law  school  in  Mercer  Uni- 
versity, and  published  volumes  of  interest  to  the 
profession  and  to  law  students. 

In  a  country  so  vast  in  area  as  this  is,  with  local 
interests  so  various  and  important,  there  is  always 


i4  INTRODUCTION 

a  likelihood  of  provincialisms.  That  sectional 
feelings  might  arise  and  tend  to  subordinate  to 
themselves  the  consciousness  of  nationality  was 
from  the  early  days  of  the  Republic  a  contingency 
to  be  apprehended — a  peril  it  would  task  states- 
manship to  avert.  For  a  generation  previous  to 
1860  this  peril  was  seen  to  be  increasingly  real  and 
to  threaten  consequences  most  serious.  Men  be- 
gan to  speak  of  an  irrepressible  conflict.  The 
calamities  in  which  the  culmination  of  it  actually 
resulted  everybody  knows.  When  the  war  ended 
the  situation  seemed  almost  desperate.  Nothing 
appeared  less  likely  than  the  reunifying  of  a  peo- 
ple that  had  been  so  frightfully  divided.  In  the 
Southern  States  the  national  authority  was  de- 
tested and  anything  like  national  feeling  was 
practically  extinct.  On  the  other  hand,  those  of  us 
who  believed  this  country  was  made  to  be  the  home 
of  one  nation,  not  two  or  many;  the  home  of  a 
united  and  peace-loving  people,  not  a  circle  of 
armed  camps,  knew  perfectly  well  that  the  sole 
hope  of  that  eventuality  lay  in  the  restoration  of 
the  national  authority  and  the  re-enkindling  of  a 
truly  national  spirit,  hopeless  as  such  a  result  might 
seem.  What  should  bring  it  about?  Whence 
could  it  be  anticipated?  Force  would  never  pro- 
duce it.  Negotiation  would  never  ensure  it.  Leg- 
islation would  never  effect  it.  If  ever  it  was  to  be, 
it  must  be  the  outcome  of  the  hearts  of  the  South- 
ern people  themselves,  spontaneous,  magnanimous, 
self-propagating,  in  the  lapse  of  years,  perhaps  of 
generations.  For  that  it  was  necessary  to  wait. 

Now  it  is  the  distinction  of  Judge  Speer  that  he 
was  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  men  of  the  South 
clearly  to  perceive  the  immense  desirableness  of 


INTRODUCTION  15 

this  political  renovation,  and  set  himself  intelli- 
gently and  heartily  to  do  a  man's  utmost  toward  it. 
In  this  patriotic  endeavor  he  has  never  wearied. 
To  make  it  successful  he  has  spared  no  exertion. 
By  precept  and  example,  by  word  and  by  deed,  pri- 
vately and  publicly,  as  a  citizen  and  as  a  judge,  he 
has  striven  to  hasten  the  happy  issue  which  now 
one  need  not  be  oversanguine  confidently  to  expect. 
Time,  good  sense,  common  experiences  and  com- 
mon aspirations,  mutual  understandings  ripening 
into  common  purposes,  combine  to  develop  a  con- 
sciousness of  unity  finding  many  ways  to  assert  it- 
self. Demonstrations  multiply  that  the  once  di- 
vided American  people  have  grasped  the  full  sig- 
nificance of  the  motto  which  the  fathers  chose,  and 
perceived  the  splendid  potencies  contingent  upon 
the  realization  of  the  ideal  to  which  it  points,  and 
clearly  see  the  felicity,  the  dignity,  the  grandeur 
of  the  fact  that  in  very  truth,  for  a  great  future 
at  home  and  a  beneficent  mission  abroad,  they  are 
one  nation — uan  indissoluble  union  of  indestruct- 
ible States." 

Doubtless  there  are  many  who  remember  a 
poem  of  twenty-five  years  ago,  by  Dr.  Holland, 
entitled  "The  Mistress  of  the  Manse."  They  will 
recall  how  the  doubly-bereaved  heroine  solved  the 
problem  of  her  tortured  heart.  She  laid  side  by 
side  the  soldier  of  the  Union,  who  had  been  her 
beloved  husband,  and  the  soldier  of  the  Confed- 
eracy, who  had  been  her  beloved  brother,  with  a 
common  monument,  and  this  inscription : 

"They  did  the  duty  that  they  saw ; 

Both  wrought  on  God's  supreme  designs ; 
And,  under  Love's  eternal  law, 

Each  life  with  equal  beauty  shines." 


1 6  INTRODUCTION 

That  sentiment,  from  which  once  hearts  in  either 
section  somewhat  recoiled,  now  finds  a  response 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  and 
beyond  a  question  will  finally  be  universal  and 
abiding.  Those  whom  it  animated  first  will  then 
stand  out  as  the  prophets  of  their  generation — the 
heralds  of  a  bright  and  glorious  day  for  their  coun- 
try and  for  mankind. 

It  will  be  seen  that  to  the  patriot  whose  ad- 
dresses are  collected  in  this  volume  that  day 
dawned  long  ago.  The  names  of  Washington  and 
Lincoln,  of  Grant  and  Lee,  equally  arouse  his 
enthusiasm  as  his  imagination  reproduces  their 
characters  and  their  services,  each  in  the  proper 
time  and  place,  for  the  inspiration  of  his  listening 
countrymen.  It  is  interesting  to  remember  in  this 
connection  that  he  has  been  heard  by  attentive  and 
sympathetic  audiences  in  the  North  and  in  the 
South,  in  the  East  and  in  the  West,  and  every- 
where has  won  the  tribute  of  ready  and  hearty  ap- 
plause. Nor  is  this  at  all  difficult  to  understand. 
His  addresses  have  a  charm  that  is  their  own. 
The  ardor  of  a  Southern  nature,  the  fertility  of  a 
full  mind,  the  sympathies  of  a  generous  heart  are 
continually  manifested  in  them,  whether  the  par- 
ticular subject  of  discourse  faced  the  problems  of 
the  colonial  period,  the  long  war  for  Independence 
or  the  struggle  of  less  than  fifty  years  ago.  All 
these  glimpses  of  the  past  have  their  interest,  and 
thus  treated  make  their  own  appeal,  and  it  is  to 
what  is  deeper  than  partisanship  and  belongs  to  no 
one  time.  It  is  not  desirable  that  noble  qualities 
and  magnificent  energies  be  forgotten  whenever 
or  wherever  displayed.  It  is  profitable  that  by  elo- 
quent lips,  by  glowing  pages,  by  enduring  monu- 


INTRODUCTION  17 

ments  they  be  kept  in  remembrance.  It  will  profit 
if  in  these  ways,  and  in  every  other  practicable 
way,  the  hearts  of  the  children  are  prompted  to  vie 
with  their  fathers  in  that  large  public  spirit  which 
the  future  equally  with  the  past  will  somehow  de- 
mand "in  times  which  try  men's  souls." 

To  speak  particularly  of  the  literary  form  of 
these  papers  in  this  introduction  would  be  uncalled 
for.  They  may  safely  be  left  to  speak  for  them- 
selves. This  they  certainly  will  do,  and  most 
effectively,  whatever  may  be  said  of  them  in  ad- 
vance. But  it  will  be  permitted  to  a  friend  of  the 
author  to  commend  them  to  the  public,  and  express 
the  hope  that  they  may  find  a  wide  circle  of  inter- 
ested readers.  May  they  awaken  in  many  minds 
a  fresh  and  an  abiding  appreciation  of  the  rich 
heritage  the  American  people  possesses  in  the 
memory  of  heroic  leaders,  who  in  a  long  succes- 
sion have  gloriously  met  the  emergencies  of  its 
history  in  the  centuries  that  have  gone  1 

New  Haven,  Conn., 

August  i,  1909. 


FACING   PAGB    19 


Lincoln,  Lee,  Grant,  and  Other 
Biographical  Addresses 

ABRAHAM    LINCOLN.* 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

About  the  year  1816  a  catastrophe  in  commerce 
between  the  States  occurred  on  an  interstate  water- 
way of  our  country.  It  was  at  the  junction  of  the 
Ohio  River,  with  one  of  its  Kentucky  tributaries 
upon  which  the  pioneers  had  bestowed  the  sugges- 
tive name  "Rolling  Fork."  A  rude  flat-boat,  laden 
with  a  scanty  collection  of  household  goods,  ten 
barrels  of  corn  whiskey,  and  steered  by  a  tall  back- 
woodsman, whose  muscular  form,  good-humored, 
careless  face  was  typical  of  the  daring  videttes 
of  those  pioneer  forces  which  westward  took  their 
way,  was  borne  swiftly  down  the  stream.  The 
stalwart  master  was  not  without  experience  in  such 
ventures.  That  morning,  in  front  of  his  cabin 
home,  he  quit  his  moorings,  and  amid  the  hurrahs 
of  his  children  swept  boldly  out  into  the  stream. 
A  perilous  artery  of  inland  navigation  was  "Roll- 
ing Fork"  as  he  rushed  down  from  the  ravines  of 
"Blue  Bald"  and  "Shiney"  mountains,  to  mingle 
his  lime-colored  waters  with  the  amber  flood  of 


*On  the  Centenary  of  his  Birth,  at  the  Armory  of  the  I2th 
Regiment  New  York  State  National  Guard,  Feb.  12,  1909. 


20  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

Ohio.  . .  .Whethej  .by.  the :  impetuous  current,  the 
presence  'eif  snags'  in<i:  Sawyers,  or  a  too  frequent 
resort  to  wfyaJ: .thefldej-  Wdler  would  term  "a  wery 
good-pbsv'cp'b^.«Uction,y-\thjDugh  a  straw  inserted 
in  a  tempting  bunghole,  certain  it  is  that  the  boat- 
man lost  his  bearings.  As  the  argosy  was  swept 
into  the  great  river,  it  was  partially  capsized. 
Much  of  the  priceless  cargo,  and  doubtless  all  the 
composure  of  the  bold  navigator  was  swept  away. 

The  hapless  voyager  was  Thomas  Lincoln.  One 
of  the  little  children,  who  had  cheered  the  father 
as  he  set  forth  on  his  unpropitious  way,  became 
the  illustrious  American,  the  centenary  of  whose 
birth  we  celebrate  to-day.  Angry  with  adverse 
fortune  but  undismayed,  his  flat-boat  righted,  with 
the  remnant  of  his  wealth,  alone  and  unaided, 
Thomas  Lincoln  drifted  with  Ohio's  current,  made 
a  safe  landing  on  the  Indiana  shore,  and  hiring  a 
yoke  of  oxen,  conveyed  his  goods  and  chattels 
some  eighteen  miles  from  the  river.  Here  they 
were  cached  in  an  oak  opening  under  the  care  of  a 
friendly  settler.  Thomas,  with  unchastened  spirit 
shouldered  his  rifle,  and  took  a  bee-line  southward 
to  bring  his  wife  and  children  to  the  new  home  he 
meant  to  establish  in  the  primeval  forest. 

Such  experiences,  and  others  far  more  tragic, 
were  no  novelties  with  the  migratory  ancestry  of 
the  child  Lincoln.  One  year  after  "victory  twined 
double  garlands"  around  the  banners  of  France 
and  America  at  Yorktown,  Abraham  Lincoln,  the 
grandfather  of  the  Emancipator,  and  his  sons, 
Mordecai,  Josiah,  and  the  amphibious  Thomas 
aforesaid,  left  Rockingham  County,  Virginia.  He 
followed  the  wilderness  trail  threading  the  his- 
toric passes  of  the  Alleghenies,  and  taking  out  a 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  21 

warrant  for  four  hundred  acres  of  land,  erected 
his  log-cabin  home  near  Fort  Beargrass,  the  pres- 
ent site  of  Louisville,  Kentucky.  Here  for  two 
years  we  may  believe  that  hope  elevated  the  heart 
of  the  brave  frontiersman.  Here  he  cleared  and 
planted  the  virgin  soil,  whose  luxuriant  yield  would 
give  bread  to  his  loved  ones.  Here  were  the  illim- 
itable and  primeval  parks  of  the  Blue  Grass, 
shaded  by  the  monarchs  of  the  forest;  here,  count- 
less flocks  of  wild  pigeons,  fluttering  amid  the 
mighty  beeches,  and  the  noble  wild  turkey,  proudly 
displaying  the  sheen  of  his  bronze  plumage,  amid 
his  shy  and  comely  consorts,  strutted  and  gobbled 
with  all  the  ecstasy  of  reciprocated  love ;  the  rough 
grouse  too,  drumming  like  some  recruiting  ser- 
geant for  a  feathered  battalion;  the  beautiful  deer 
in  great  herds  gracefully  bounding  through  the  vis- 
tas of  the  woods,  or  grazing  upon  the  lush  grasses ; 
all  made  rich  contributions  to  the  larder  of  the 
pioneer.  But  Abraham,  the  grandfather,  was  not 
long  to  enjoy  these  hopeful  and  happy  conditions. 
One  day  he  was  working  in  the  field.  Little 
Thomas  was  playing  by  his  side.  Hard  by,  the 
elder  boys  were  chopping  in  the  woods.  A  mur- 
derous Indian,  hidden  in  the  brush  on  the  edge  of 
the  field,  was  watching  the  father  and  child.  Llis 
unsuspecting  victim,  in  his  work  approached  the 
ambush.  The  cruel  rifle  spoke.  The  father  fell 
dead.  Paralyzed  with  terror,  caught  by  the  sav- 
age springing  from  his  lair,  the  little  one  was 
swiftly  borne  toward  captivity,  perhaps  torture 
and  death.  But  the  brothers  were  there.  While 
Josiah  ran  to  the  fort  for  help,  Mordecai  sped  to 
the  house,  caught  down  his  father's  rifle,  and  draw- 
ing a  bead  on  the  running  Indian  killed  him  in  his 


22  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

tracks.  Little  Tom,  wriggling  from  the  loosening 
grasp  of  his  dying  captor,  sped  like  a  wild  creature 
of  the  woods  to  the  cabin  and  to  safety.  And  yet 
there  are  those  friendly  biographers  of  the  illus- 
trious son  who  have  spoken  of  the  ancestry  of 
Lincoln  as  "poor  whites,"  often  "poor  white 
trash."  Never  was  careless  injustice  more  pal- 
pable, especially  to  those  who  know  the  swerveless 
courage,  the  heroic  fortitude,  the  kindly  and  com- 
panionable nature  of  Southern  men  of  his  class. 
Much  has  been  written  of  the  "shiftless"  father  of 
Lincoln.  By  the  same  standard,  "shiftless"  also 
was  Daniel  Boone,  and  many  another  adventurer, 
who  led  the  way  where  men  of  greater  culture  and 
less  hardihood  would  have  ignobly  failed.  These 
men  were  the  offspring  of  the  time  and  the  ex- 
igency of  a  wilderness  empire.  The  original  of 
the  expression  is  purely  African  and  local.  There 
are  poor  men  everywhere,  but  they  are  not  called 
"poor  whites."  Such  writers  have,  therefore, 
appropriated  an  illusive  characterization,  originat- 
ing with  the  pampered  and  pompous  African  house 
servants  of  wealthy  planters  in  the  old  regime — 
the  "Gumbos"  of  Thackeray,  the  "Drink-Water 
Toms"  of  Page — who  were  accustomed  to  speak 
thus  of  white  men,  who,  like  the  father  of  Lincoln, 
were  obliged  from  poverty  to  win  their  bread  by 
the  sweat  of  their  brows.  To  vast  multitudes, 
like  him,  learning  had  never  unfolded  her  ample 
page,  nor  had  education  come  to  unlock  the  por- 
tals of  the  mind.  But  from  that  poor,  but  pure 
blooded  stock  sprang  Andrew  Jackson,  the  hero  of 
New  Orleans,  and  Davy  Crockett,  the  hero  of  the 
Alamo.  In  the  main  it  gave  the  rank  and  file  of 
that  incomparable  infantry,  whose  far-flung  battle- 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  23 

line,  from  the  green  hills  above  the  Potomac  to 
the  sandy  banks  of  the  Rio  Grande,  for  four  years 
maintained  to  the  uttermost  the  military  renown 
and  honor  of  our  country's  fighting  strain. 

In  1806  Thomas  Lincoln,  grown  to  manhood, 
had  taken  to  himself  a  wife.  The  bride  was 
Nancy  Hanks,  a  wild  flower  from  the  Virginia 
mountains.  The  future  President  was  the  second 
child  of  this  union.  Upon  the  authority  of  a 
biographer  who  well  knew  the  son,  the  latter  de- 
clared that  his  mother  was  "of  medium  stature,  of 
brunette  complexion,  and  with  bright  eyes,  at  once 
mirthful  and  soft."  This  gentle  daughter  of  the 
wilderness  did  not  long  endure  the  hardships  and 
privations  of  its  rugged  and  wasting  life.  At  the 
rude  home  in  southern  Indiana,  on  the  5th  of  Oc- 
tober, 1818,  the  mother,  who  had  given  Lincoln 
to  his  country  and  mankind,  passed  from  the  toils 
and  sorrows  of  life  to  the  presence  of  that  benign 
Master  whose  tenderest  mission  on  earth  was  to 
bring  pity,  succor,  and  consolation  to  the  suffering 
Mothers  of  Men.  Hard  by  the  desolate  home, 
the  husband  cut  from  the  woods,  and  fashioned 
with  his  own  hands  a  rude  coffin  for  the  quiet  form 
of  the  wife  of  his  youth.  As  she  had  lived,  so  she 
was  buried  in  the  mighty  forest,  and  when  the 
withered  leaves  of  many  winters  had  thickly  cov- 
ered her  resting  place,  her  son,  then  a  ruler  of  men, 
with  tear-dimmed  eyes  declared:  "All  that  I  am 
or  hope  to  be,  I  owe  to  my  angel  mother." 

Who  can  portray  the  wretchedness  of  that  hum- 
ble home  to  which  Thomas  Lincoln,  his  little 
daughter  Sarah,  and  his  still  younger  son  returned 
from  the  lonely  grave.  But  the  poor  have  no 
leisure  for  lamentation.  Sarah,  not  yet  twelve, 


24  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

was  the  housekeeper.  Little  Abe,  two  years 
younger,  was  already  trained  in  wielding  the  axe, 
the  maul,  and  the  froe.  Thomas  was  a  quick 
dead  shot  with  the  rifle,  and  game  was  plentiful; 
skilful  also  in  mixing  the  nourishing  ashcake  of 
Indian  corn  meal.  The  furniture  of  the  cabin,  which 
sheltered  the  boy,  whose  intrepid  diplomacy  in 
later  years  dominated  the  royal  inmate  of  St. 
James,  and  the  imperial  occupant  of  the  Tuileries, 
was  squalid,  indeed  pathetic.  The  bedstead  had 
but  one  leg.  This  was  cut  from  a  sapling  with 
two  adjacent  forks,  and  driven  into  the  ground  floor 
the  desired  distance  from  the  walls.  Cross-pieces 
extended  from  the  forks  to  the  crevices  between 
the  logs.  Thongs  of  deer-skin  were  laced  with 
care  across  the  frame  thus  made,  and  on  this  re- 
posed the  mattress  stuffed  with  fragrant  "shucks" 
or  husks  stripped  from  the  ears  of  Indian  corn. 
In  another  corner  the  children  enjoyed  the  com- 
forts of  a  similar,  but  smaller  structure,  but  when 
the  blizzard  came,  and  the  icy  blasts  from  the 
North  hurtled  across  the  lonely  prairie,  and  drove 
the  snow  in  drifts  through  the  many  clefts  in  the 
cabin,  the  little  ones  would  creep  to  the  parental 
bed  to  share  the  warmth,  thrown  off  in  generous 
measure  by  the  stalwart  father.  But  the  en- 
vironment of  Abraham  Lincoln's  youth  was  in 
no  sense  injurious  to  a  man  of  his  native  power.  Its 
hardships  and  vicissitudes  developed  the  Spartan 
in  his  character.  Comforts  were  unknown,  but  this 
made  him  in  after  life  "scorn  delights  and  live  la- 
borious days."  It  compassed  achievements  usually 
impossible  to  those  who  have  not  felt  the  "uses  of 
adversity."  Royal  fathers,  of  no  mean  sagacity, 
have  sought  to  accustom  their  sons  from  infancy 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  25 

to  privations,  inevitable  with  the  boy  Lincoln. 
Such  was  the  father  of  Frederick  the  Great.  And 
when  in  the  late  years  of  the  Seven  Years'  War, 
with  the  armies  of  Austria,  Saxony,  Russia,  Swe- 
den, France,  and  the  Reich,  combined  against  him, 
when  with  but  a  remnant  of  his  veterans,  his  mili- 
tary genius,  at  the  Camp  of  Bundelwitz,  had 
checkmated  and  paralyzed  all  his  foes,  this  Last 
of  the  Great  Kings,  making  his  cheerless  bivouac 
amid  his  shivering  outposts,  was  heard  to  exclaim, 
"And  remember,  a  lock  of  straw,  will  you,  that  I 
may  not  have  to  sleep  on  the  ground  as  last  night." 
It  is  possible  that  continuous  meditation  upon 
his  miserable  household,  and  the  wretchedness  of 
his  children,  impelled  our  bereaved  widower  to  ask 
himself,  in  the  language  of  Scripture,  "Is  there  no 
balm  in  Gilead ;  is  there  no  physician  there  ?"  Cer- 
tain it  is  that,  no  matter  how  great  the  calamity, 
Thomas  Lincoln  was  not  one  of  those  who 

"In  the  shade  of  melancholy  boughs, 

Lose  and  neglect  the  creeping  hours  of  time." 

And  so  it  was  that  about  a  year  after  the  death  of 
his  beloved  Nancy,  Thomas  disappeared.  He 
gave  to  the  children  no  explanation  of  his  flitting, 
or  how  long  he  would  be  gone.  They  were  how- 
ever, unafraid,  and  not  unaccustomed  to  the  excur- 
sions of  this  pioneer  prodigal  father.  One  bright 
December  morning  the  mystery  was  explained. 
A  cheery  yell  from  the  edge  of  the  little  clearing 
around  the  cabin  brought  the  children  scampering 
out  of  doors.  They  were  greeted  by  a  spectacle 
to  dazzle  their  shy  but  enraptured  eyes ;  the  beam- 
ing Thomas,  sitting  in  the  seat  of  honor  in  a  four- 
horse  wagon,  drawn  by  powerful  Kentucky  steeds. 


26  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

By  his  side,  a  comely  and  kindly  bride.  She  had 
been  a  widow,  Mrs.  Sallie  Johnston  of  Elizabeth- 
town,  Kentucky.  A  sweetheart  of  the  secretive 
Thomas  in  the  days  of  his  youth — having  heard 
of  the  death  of  her  husband,  he  had  sagely  divined 
that  their  mutual  sorrows,  if  added  together  in  the 
curious  arithmetic  of  love,  might  sum  up  in  the 
happiness  of  both.  The  days  of  downright  hard- 
ship for  the  family  were  now  behind.  The  new 
mother  had  brought  with  her  three  children  of 
her  first  marriage.  The  new  playmates  were  by 
our  little  friends  welcomed  with  open  arms.  But 
this  was  not  all.  The  contents  of  the  wagon  were 
miraculous.  There  were  tables  and  chairs,  an  as- 
tonishing bureau,  with  drawers  that  pulled  out 
and  disclosed  a  plentiful  stock  of  clothing.  There 
was  abundant  crockery  to  replace  the  tin  cups  and 
plates.  There  were  knives  and  forks.  There 
was  ample  bedding  for  all,  and  no  matter  how  cold 
the  weather,  the  children  never  again  suffered  for 
the  lack  of  cover.  We  cannot  doubt  that  the  canny 
Thomas  had  cautiously  depicted  the  insufficiencies 
of  his  establishment,  for  luxurious  repose,  nor  that 
the  wonderful  wagon  also  contained  a  matrimonial 
four-poster,  such  as  may  yet  be  seen  in  the  old  Ken- 
tucky home,  and  one  or  more  fluffy  but  ponderous 
looking  feather-beds — the  acme  of  comfort  in  the 
hyperborean  region  to  which  its  kindly  mistress 
had  now  arrived.  Wonder  has  been  expressed 
how  Thomas  Lincoln,  an  untutored  son  of  the 
wilderness,  beguiled  this  shrewd  and  forehanded 
Kentucky  widow  to  share  his  meager  fortunes.  It 
must  be  recalled,  however,  that  he  had  sought  her 
in  the  autumn,  but  not  until  December  did  he  bring 
the  "captive  home  *  *  *  whose  ransom  did 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  27 

the  general  coffers  fill."  We  may  rest  assured 
that  during  this  interval  Thomas  was  an  ardent 
wooer,  and  there  is  power  in  propinquity,  especially 
of  those  who  have  previously  enjoyed  the  bless- 
ings of  connubial  happiness. 

In  the  meantime,  little  Abraham  had  learned  to 
read,  and  in  a  way  to  write.  His  handwriting  was 
always  small  and  delicate.  This  is  doubtless 
ascribable  to  the  paucity  of  paper  in  the  Indiana 
home.  Indeed,  much  of  his  early  composition  was 
written  with  charcoal  on  the  boards,  or  "shakes" 
as  they  were  termed  then,  which  he  had  riven  with 
his  froe.  A  wooden  fire-shovel  was  also  a  tablet 
for  his  random  thoughts  and  selections.  When 
the  shovel  was  filled,  he  would  shave  off  the  sur- 
face with  his  sharp  pocket-knife,  and  proceed  to 
fill  it  again.  Of  books  it  seemed  for  a  long  time 
he  had  but  five.  These  were  the  Bible,  Bunyan's 
"Pilgrim's  Progress,"  "Aesop's  Fables,"  "Robin- 
son Crusoe,"  and  at  a  later  period  Weems'  "Life 
of  Washington."  It  is  probably  true  that  no  other 
collection  could  have  produced  such  fructifying  and 
enduring  impression  on  the  astonishing  fertility 
and  strength  of  that  mind  with  which  the  lad  had 
been  endowed.  "Some  books,"  wrote  Bacon  in  his 
essay  "On  Studies,"  "are  to  be  tasted,  others  to  be 
swallowed,  and  some  few  to  be  chewed  and  digest- 
ed." It  will  scarcely  be  questioned  that  the  library 
of  the  future  President  belonged  to  the  class  last 
mentioned  by  the  most  brilliant  philosopher  of  the 
Elizabethan  Age.  With  what  Lowell  terms  "the 
grand  simplicities  of  the  Bible,"  the  subsequent 
writings  and  speeches  of  Lincoln  betray  the  most 
intimate  acquaintance,  and  of  the  English  Bible 
Lord  Macaulay  declared,  "if  everything  else  in 


28  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

our  language  should  perish,  it  would  alone  suffice 
to  show  the  whole  extent  of  its  beauty  and  power." 
It  will  be  as  interesting,  as  profitable  to  those  who 
would  acquire  a  clear,  cogent,  simple  and  popular 
style,  to  reflect  that  the  styles  of  the  immortal 
author  of  the  "Pilgrim's  Progress,"  and  of  the 
scarcely  less  renowned  creator  of  "Robinson 
Crusoe,"  were  both  formed  by  a  study  of  the 
"Book  of  Books."  Of  the  inspired  allegory,  it 
may  be  said  that,  like  Lincoln  in  his  studies  in  the 
wilderness,  the  author  had,  in  the  words  of  the 
same  great  master  of  English  literature  I  have 
just  quoted,  "no  conception  that  he  was  producing 
a  masterpiece:  he  could  not  guess  what  place  his 
allegory  would  occupy  in  English  literature,  for 
of  English  literature  he  knew  nothing."  Bunyan 
was  the  son  of  a  strolling  tinker,  at  a  time  when 
that  guild  formed  an  hereditary  class  who  were 
generally  vagrants  and  pilferers.  The  father  of 
Lincoln,  with  all  of  his  weaknesses,  when  com- 
pared to  the  father  of  Bunyan,  would  probably  be 
as  "Hyperion"  to  a  "Satyr."  It  was  in  the  grime 
of  his  prison  cell  that  the  author  created  the 
"House  Beautiful,"  the  "Delectable  Mountains," 
and  the  "Enchanted  Ground."  It  is  declared  that 
he  had  no  assistance,  and  nobody  but  himself  saw 
a  line  until  the  whole  was  complete.  Like  Lin- 
coln's also,  some  of  his  early  writings  were  coarse, 
but  they  showed  a  keen  mother  wit,  a  great  com- 
mand of  the  homely  Saxon  tongue,  and  great  fa- 
miliarity with  the  English  Bible.  Perhaps  in  no 
book  other  than  the  "Pilgrim's  Progress"  are  to  be 
found  so  many  words  of  one  syllable.  Of  Defoe, 
it  is  related  that  during  that  part  of  the  reign  of 
Charles  the  Second,  when  devout  non-Catholics  an- 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  29 

ticipated  that  printed  Bibles  would  soon  become 
rare,  many  earnest  and  apprehensive  people  began 
to  copy  it  in  writing,  and  the  author  of  "Robinson 
Crusoe"  and  "The  Story  of  the  Plague  in  London," 
as  he  himself  said,  "worked  like  a  horse  until  he  had 
written  out  the  whole  of  the  Pentateuch."  To  such 
studies  we  may  ascribe  the  simplicity  and  strength 
of  his  style.  In  his  imaginative  power  we  may 
trace  the  influence  of  the  Royal  Poet  of  Israel, 
whose  military  genius  extended  his  dominion  from 
the  Orontes  to  the  Euphrates;  and  the  fervid  real- 
ism of  his  narrative,  to  the  simple  stories  of  those 
untutored  artisans  and  fishermen,  who  recorded 
the  journeys,  the  sayings,  and  the  trials  of  Him 
"who  spake  as  never  man  spake."  The  Fables  of 
Aesop,  and  the  famous  work  of  Weems,  were  of  a 
different  order.  But  of  the  first  it  may  be  said  that 
Socrates  himself  attempted  their  versification,  and 
they  were  favorites  with  the  cultured  inhabitants 
in  the  City  of  the  Violet  Crown,  at  that  period  of 
its  intellectual  achievement  of  which  Macaulay  de- 
clared, "Wherever  literature  consoles  sorrow  or 
assuages  pain;  wherever  it  brings  gladness  to  eyes, 
which  fail  with  wakefulness  and  tears,  and  ache 
for  the  dark  house  and  the  long  sleep — there  is  ex- 
hibited in  its  noblest  form  the  immortal  things  of 
Athens." 

The  least  influential  of  those  literary  influences, 
which  added  to  Lincoln's  gigantic  mentality  a  style 
of  writing  and  speaking,  unsurpassed  in  its  power 
to  reach  and  control  the  patriotic  conscience  of  the 
plain  people,  was  the  "Life  of  Washington"  by 
Parson  Weems.  But  it  is  probably  true  that  noth- 
ing he  read  contributed  more  to  his  devotion  to 
the  Union  than  the  idolatry  of  Washington  it 


30  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

kindled,  and  Walt  Whitman  declared  that  "the 
only  thing  like  passion  or  infatuation  in  the  man 
was  the  passion  for  the  Union  of  these  States." 
It  cannot  be  said  that  all  the  veracities  were  com- 
bined in  Parson  Weems.  He  was  an  itinerant  ad- 
venturer, bookmaker,  and  bookseller.  To  suggest 
his  intimacy  with  Washington,  Weems  described 
himself  as  "Rector  of  Mt.  Vernon  Parish." 
Now  Mt.  Vernon  had  no  church  or  chapel,  was  in 
Truro  Parish,  and  Weems  was  never  rector  any- 
where. It  was  Weems  who  invented  the  fabulous 
story  of  the  Cherry  Tree  and  the  Hatchet,  which 
will  in  a  few  days  engage  the  humorous  writers  of 
the  Press  in  purveying  for  our  countrymen's  love 
of  funmaking  and  ridicule.  Nevertheless,  the 
book  was  written  in  an  earnest  and  most  affection- 
ate style.  It  was  a  great  favorite  with  the  pioneers, 
who  worshiped  the  memory  of  Washington.  In- 
deed, they  regarded  him  as  the  first  pioneer,  but 
with  less  accuracy  perhaps,  as  a  type  of  themselves. 
Lincoln  shared  this  worship  to  the  full.  Indelible, 
then,  must  have  been  the  influence  upon  his  mind 
of  the  ardent  advocacy  of  our  perpetual  union  in 
the  "Farewell  Address" :  "It  is  a  main  pillar 
in  the  edifice  of  your  real  independence,  the 
support  of  your  tranquillity  at  home,  your  peace 
abroad;  of  your  safety;  of  your  prosperity;  of 
that  very  Liberty,  which  you  so  highly  prize." 
Indeed,  there  were  those  who  condemned  Mr. 
Lincoln  because  his  love  for  the  Union  far  out- 
stripped his  hatred  of  slavery,  and  yet  hatred 
of  slavery  was  one  of  the  ruling  passions  of  his  life. 
This  is  made  plain  by  his  famous  letter  to  Horace 
Greeley:  "If  there  be  those  who  would  not  save 
the  Union,  unless  they  could  at  the  same  time  save 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  31 

slavery,  I  do  not  agree  with  them.  If  there  be 
those  who  would  not  save  the  Union,  unless  they 
could  at  the  same  time  destroy  slavery,  I  do  not 
agree  with  them.  My  paramount  object  is  to  save 
the  Union,  and  not  either  to  save  or  destroy  slav- 
ery. If  I  could  save  the  Union  without  freeing 
any  slave,  I  would  do  it.  And  if  I  could  save  it  by 
freeing  all  the  slaves,  I  would  do  it.  And  if  I 
could  save  it  by  freeing  some,  and  leaving  others 
alone,  I  would  also  do  that.  What  I  do  about 
slavery  and  the  colored  race,  I  do  because  I  believe 
it  helps  to  save  the  Union,  and  what  I  forbear,  I 
forbear  because  I  do  not  believe  it  would  help  to 
save  the  Union.  I  shall  do  less  whenever  I  believe 
what  I  am  doing  hurts  the  cause,  and  shall  do  more 
whenever  I  believe  doing  more  will  help  the  cause 
I  have  here  stated  my  purpose,  ac- 
cording to  my  view  of  official  duty,  and  I  intend  no 
modification  of  my  oft-expressed  personal  wish, 
that  all  men  everywhere  could  be  free."  In  truth 
at  last  the  Union  became  to  Lincoln — and  I  speak 
with  reverence — sacred  as  the  Cross  to  that  in- 
numerable throng  of  other  martyrs,  who,  "posted 
at  the  shrine  of  Truth,  have  fallen  in  her  defense." 
It  seems  that  when  about  seventeen  a  steady 
fire  of  ambition  was  kindled  in  the  breast  of  the 
young  Lincoln  by  a  spark  thrown  off  in  a  court- 
room from  the  forensic  effort  of  a  famous  Breck- 
inridge  of  that  day.  It  was  a  murder  trial.  This 
is  said  to  have  been  his  first  lesson  in  oratory,  and 
all  unconsciously,  he  must  have  determined  to  be- 
come not  only  a  great  orator,  but  also  a  great  de- 
bater. Of  all  the  renowned  debaters  of  the  British 
Parliament,  Charles  James  Fox  seems  more 
closely  to  resemble  the  simplicity,  terseness,  point- 


32  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

edness,  and  all-pervading  cast  of  intellect,  in  the 
style  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  This  great  Englishman 
once  remarked  to  a  friend  that  he  had  gained  his 
skill  "at  the  expense  of  the  House  of  Commons." 
The  audience  of  the  future  opponent  of  Douglas 
was  less  distinguished,  but  in  his  adolescent  exer- 
cises was  as  hardworked.  His  practice  of  speech- 
making,  when  not  himself  at  labor,  was  almost 
without  an  interval.  The  questions  did  not  mat- 
ter: the  propriety  of  a  bounty  on  the  scalps  of 
bears  or  wolves,  the  advantage  or  disadvantage 
of  roads  and  trails,  the  school-tax — anything.  He 
organized  mock  trials,  opened  the  case  for  the  pros- 
ecution, replied  for  the  defense,  charged  the  jury 
for  the  court,  and  sometimes  favored  the  sup- 
posititious tribunal  with  appropriate  remarks  from 
the  foreman  of  the  jury.  So  constant  were  these 
efforts,  so  ardent,  and  so  fascinating  to  his  hear- 
ers, that  his  father  often  felt  obliged  to  disperse 
the  legislative  body,  or  adjourn  the  court.  "When 
Abe  begins  to  speak,"  complained  Thomas,  "all 
the  hands  flock  to  hear  him." 

From  this  recital  it  is  plain  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
had  for  his  early  teachers  but  himself,  the  rude 
forces  of  life  on  the  frontier,  and  the  "green-robed 
senators  of  the  mighty  woods."  But  is  it  also  plain 
that  any  other  teaching  would  have  developed  the 
character  and  powers  necessary  to  the  stupendous 
task  which,  under  the  Providence  of  God,  as  we 
may  well  believe,  came  to  his  hand?  There  are 
doubtless  few  Americans,  capable  of  appreciating 
the  blessings  of  classical  culture,  who  have  not  in 
some  degree  coveted  the  opportunities  enjoyed  by 
such  men  as  the  elder  Pitt  and  Charles  James  Fox 
at  Oxford,  or  by  the  younger  Pitt,  Macaulay  and 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  33 

Gladstone  at  Cambridge.  It  is  true  that  the  power 
to  render  the  orations  of  Demosthenes  into  ner- 
vous English  was  the  easy  task  of  Chatham;  that 
to  soothe  his  outraged  nerves,  after  prodigies 
of  dissipation,  Fox  would  turn  to  the  odes  and  ly- 
rics of  Horace,  to  the  "Aeneid"  or  "Alcestis,"  as 
if  they  were  in  his  mother-tongue.  It  is  true  that  of 
the  younger  Pitt,  his  teacher  declared  that  there 
was  scarcely  a  Greek  or  Latin  writer,  the  whole  of 
whose  works  his  pupil  had  not  read  to  him,  in  most 
thorough  and  discriminating  manner  before  he 
was  twenty,  and  that  he  was  as  thorough  in  the 
exact  sciences  as  in  the  classics.  While  these  illus- 
trious men  became  each  supreme  in  his  distinctive 
characteristics  as  orator,  and  while  Lincoln  had 
no  more  than  a  year  of  school  life  altogether,  I 
doubt  if  all  their  learning  could  have  added  an 
atom  to  his  power  in  those  debates  with  Douglas, 
which  made  him  President  during  that  period  in 
which  the  Union  was  saved.  I  doubt  if  either 
could  have  equalled  the  simple  grandeur  of  his 
speech  at  Gettysburg,  the  pathos  of  his  First  In- 
augural, the  gentle  tenderness  and  awful  majesty 
of  his  last.  He  was  a  child  of  the  plain  people,  he 
spoke  as  the  nursling  of  his  country  and  his  time. 
But  this  was  not  all.  The  early  habits  of  self- 
reliance,  essential  to  existence  itself,  in  his  poverty- 
stricken  and  neglected  childhood,  imparted  the 
independence,  resourcefulness,  and  immovable  but 
modest  self-confidence,  which,  despite  all  efforts 
from  many  quarters  to  change  his  plans  or  thwart 
his  policies,  made  his  prescient  mind  in  the  crisis  of 
our  country's  fate  the  actual  organizer  of  victory 
for  the  Union.  His  first  Cabinet  was,  not  unlike 
the  British  ministry,  "of  all  talents."  It  compre- 
hended certain  great  Americans,  who  deemed 


34  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

themselves,  and  at  the  time  were  deemed  by  the 
American  people,  as  infinitely  superior  to  the  un- 
couth country  lawyer,  who  in  such  a  surprising  way 
had  won  the  Presidency.  Foremost  of  these  were 
William  H.  Seward  and  Salmon  P.  Chase.  It 
was  doubtless  mortifying  to  these  courtly  and 
scholarly  statesmen,  to  daily  witness  the  President 
receiving  multitudes,  in  the  hale-fellow  well-met 
style,  natural  to  a  man  of  his  simple  good  nature. 
Their  own  dignity  and  reserve  would  have  been 
more  at  home  in  the  Cabinet  of  His  Excellency, 
George  Washington,  than  in  that  of  "honest  Abe 
Lincoln,"  the  Rail  Splitter  from  Sangamon.  It  is 
said  that  he  was  far  more  accessible  to  the  people 
than  the  chiefs  of  many  subordinate  bureaus.  He 
was  utterly  unconventional.  A  formal  visit  from 
a  diplomatic  representative  of  the  most  powerful 
monarch  of  "that  grand  old  world  beyond  the 
deep,"  was  not  more  appalling  to  him  than  a  visit 
from  a  brother  attorney  in  his  law  office  at  Spring- 
field. When  Lord  Lyons,  that  stately  bachelor 
minister  of  Her  Britannic  Majesty  at  Washington, 
presented  to  the  new  President  an  autograph  let- 
ter from  Queen  Victoria,  announcing  the  marriage 
of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  as  is  the  custom  with  roy- 
alty, and  when  His  Lordship  loftily  added  that 
whatever  response  the  President  would  make  he 
would  immediately  transmit  to  his  Royal  Mistress, 
Mr.  Lincoln  instantly  responded  by  shaking  the 
marriage  announcement  in  the  face  of  the  startled 
Britisher,  and  exclaiming,  "Lyons,  go  thou  and  do 
likewise!" 

It  is  not  surprising  then  that  such  eminent  states- 
men as  Mr.  Seward  and  Mr.  Chase,  with  such  an 
"irreverent"  President,  should  conclude  that  if  the 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  35 

country  was  saved,  they  must  save  it.  The  first 
to  reach  this  conclusion  was  Mr.  Seward.  At  the 
end  of  the  first  month  he  submitted  to  Mr.  Lincoln 
a  memorandum.  This  informed  the  President 
that  the  Government  was  without  a  policy;  that 
the  slavery  question  should  be  eliminated  from  the 
struggle;  gave  his  views  as  to  the  maintenance  of 
the  forts  in  the  South;  declared  that  Spain  and 
France  were  then  preparing,  the  first  for  the  an- 
nexation of  San  Domingo,  and  both  for  the  inva- 
sion of  Mexico,  and  should  be  required  to  give  in- 
stant and  satisfactory  explanations,  and  on  failure, 
that  war  should  be  declared;  that  explanations 
equally  explicit  should  be  demanded  from  Russia 
and  Great  Britain;  that  the  Continental  spirit  of 
independence  against  all  Europe  should  be  aroused 
all  over  the  American  Continent;  and  that  the 
President  should  devote  himself  entirely  to  these 
policies,  or  devolve  the  direction  on  some  mem- 
ber of  his  Cabinet,  about  whose  measures  all  de- 
bate should  end.  It  might  have  been  implied  from 
this  memorandum  that  Mr.  Seward  himself  was 
the  proper  and  exclusive  plenipotentiary  for  the 
dictatorial  policies  and  duties  enumerated.  The 
great  Secretary  of  State  was  soon  to  learn  that  he 
had  taken  an  erroneous  measure  of  his  man.  Mr. 
Seward  had  delivered  himself  into  the  hands  of 
Mr.  Lincoln.  A  smaller  man  would  have  taken 
instant  affront  at  the  unconstitutional  superiority 
which  the  Cabinet  officer  had  assumed.  But  Mr. 
Lincoln  ignored  the  offense,  but  at  once  dispatched 
a  reply  which  had  a  profound  effect  upon  that  fa- 
mous member  of  his  official  family.  He  informed 
Mr.  Seward  that  the  Administration  had  a  foreign 
policy,  which,  with  the  President's  approval,  had 


3 6  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

been  outlined  in  the  dispatches  of  the  Secretary  of 
State;  that  if  any  change  in  that  policy  was  to 
be  made,  the  President  would  make  it  on  his  own 
responsibility.  As  to  the  domestic  policy, — that, 
he  wrote,  had  been  laid  down  in  the  Inaugural  Ad- 
dress, and  that  too  had  been  made  with  Seward's 
approval.  Its  substance  is  as  follows:  "Physi- 
cally speaking,  we  cannot  separate;  we  cannot  re- 
move our  respective  sections  from  each  other,  nor 
build  an  impassable  wall  between  them.  A  hus- 
band and  wife  may  be  divorced,  and  go  out  of  the 
presence  and  beyond  the  reach  of  each  other;  but 
the  different  parts  of  our  country  cannot  do  this. 
They  cannot  but  remain  face  to  face,  and  inter- 
course, either  amicable  or  hostile,  must  continue 
between  them.  I  am  loathe  to 

close.  We  are  not  enemies,  but  friends.  We  must 
not  be  enemies.  Though  passion  may  have  strain- 
ed, it  must  not  break  our  bonds  of  affection.  The 
mystic  cords  of  memory,  stretching  from  every 
battlefield  and  patriot  grave,  to  every  loving  heart 
and  hearthstone  all  over  this  broad  land,  will  yet 
swell  the  chorus  of  the  Union,  when  again  touch- 
ed, as  surely  they  will  be,  by  the  better  angels  of 
our  nature."  From  the  ultimate  purpose  of  that 
policy,  to  his  last  expiring  sigh,  the  martyred  Pres- 
ident did  never  for  a  moment  depart. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  Southern  born.  There  was 
subdued  emotion  of  deep  pathos  in  his  statement 
to  an  artist,  who  painted  his  portrait  and  made  in- 
quiry as  to  his  birthplace,  that  he  might  paint  that 
also.  For  the  desired  data,  the  painter  handed 
Mr.  Lincoln  a  small  memorandum  book.  He 
stated  that  as  Lincoln  took  the  book,  a  melan- 
choly shadow  settled  on  his  features,  and  his  eyes 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  37 

had  an  inexpressible  sadness  in  them,  as  if  they 
were  searching  for  something  they  had  seen  long, 
long  years  ago.  He  then  wrote:  "I  was  born 
February  12,  1809,  in  then  Harden  County,  Ken- 
tucky, within  the  now  recently  formed  county  of 
Larue,  a  mile  or  a  mile  and  a  half  from  where 
Hodgensville  now  is.  My  parents  being  dead,  and 
my  own  memory  not  serving,  I  have  no  means  of 
indentifying  the  precise  locality.  It  was  on  Nolan 
Creek."  The  great  man  was  doubtless  recalling 
the  memories  of  what  seemed  his  hopeless  child- 
hood, its  penury,  its  obscurity;  the  little  brother, 
by  whose  unmarked  grave  he  and  his  gentle  mother 
had  knelt  and  prayed,  and  through  blinding  tears 
looked  upon  the  sacred  spot  they  would  never  more 
behold. 

The  associations  of  the  birthplace  have  ever  a 
subtle  and  enduring  influence  on  the  feeling  mind. 
In  the  plastic  years  of  his  tender  childhood  his 
father  and  mother  in  his  hearing  had  often  dwelt 
upon  the  "Old  Kentucky  home  so  far  away."  They 
had  no  doubt  forgotten  its  hardships,  its  miseries, 
the  fierce  tragedies  of  the  "Dark  and  Bloody 
Ground;"  and 

"Memory  stood  sidewise,  half  covered  with  flowers, 
And  disclosed  every  rose,  but  secreted  the  thorn." 

His  stepmother,  to  whom  he  was  devotedly  at- 
tached, was  a  Kentucky  woman.  She  often  said, 
"He  never  gave  me  a  cross  word  or  look,  and 
never  refused  in  fact  or  appearance  to  do  any- 
thing I  asked  of  him."  And  more  influential  still 
is  the  fact  that  his  wife  was  "bred  in  old  Ken- 
tucky." Mr.  Lincoln  knew  the  Southern  people, 
and  loved  them.  He  knew  that  idol  of  his  young 


438111 


3 8  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

manhood,  who  had  learned  the  law,  while  secre- 
tary of  that  Chancellor  Wythe  of  Virginia  who  had 
been  the  preceptor  of  Thomas  Jefferson  and  John 
Marshall,  and  who  also  had  followed  the  "Wil- 
derness Trail,"  and  settled  in  the  heart  of  the  "Blue 
Grass,"  to  win  by  his  musical  eloquence  and  his 
magnetic  attractiveness,  that  adoration  from  his 
countrymen  which  yet  attends  the  name  of  Henry 
Clay.  Of  another  Southern  man,  whose  memory 
will  long  be  cherished  by  thousands,  he  wrote  this 
letter  to  his  law-partner :  "Dear  William, — I  take 
up  my  pen  to  tell  you  that  Mr.  Stephens  of  Georgia, 
a  little,  slim  pale-faced,  consumptive  man,  with  a 
voice  like  Logan's  has  just  concluded  the  very  best 
speech  of  an  hour's  length  I  ever  heard."  Al- 
though only  thirty-six,  he  added  in  his  humorous 
way,  "My  old  withered  dry  eyes  are  full  of  tears 
yet'." 

Let  me  say,  that  whatever  their  differences  on 
questions  of  National  policy,  it  is  true  that  South- 
ern men  worthy  of  the  name  ever  cherish  a  com- 
mon and  tender  sympathy  for  the  homogeneous 
population  which  there  hands  down  from  father 
to  son  the  primitive  virtues  of  the  brave  and  kindly 
American  stock.  It  is  an  impassioned  sentiment. 
It  is  expressed  in  the  only  intelligible  words  of  that 
martial  Southern  lyric,  which  above  the  crash  of 
rifle  fire  and  the  swift  thudding  of  guns,  often 
thrilled  the  thin  gray  lines  to  deeds  of  desperate 
valor — now,  I  trust,  the  undivided  heritage  of  an 
undivided  people — 

"In  Dixie's  land  I'll  take  my  stand, 
And  live  and  die  for  Dixie." 

In  vain  may  the  search  be  made  through  the  re- 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  39 

ports  of  all  the  speeches,  and  through  all  the  writ- 
ings and  correspondence  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  to  find 
one  syllable  of  depreciation  or  unkindness  toward 
Southern  men.  His  soundest  policy,  as  President 
and  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy 
of  the  United  States,  coincided  with  the  natural  in- 
fluences of  birth,  of  friendship,  and  of  kinship. 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  from  one  of  the  Border  States, 
and  none  more  than  he  knew  the  fighting  qualities 
of  their  intrepid  manhood.  While  they  were  Slave 
States  and  Southern  States,  the  preponderance  of 
their  military  strength  had  rallied  to  the  Stars  and 
Stripes.  It  is  well  to  remember  that  in  white 
troops  alone  the  States  recognized  as  Southern 
contributed  more  than  twice  the  strength  of  those 
combined  Imperial  Armies  who,  nearly  sixty  years 
before,  had  met  in  deadliest  conflict  on  the  snow- 
clad  plateau  illumined  by  the  "Sun  of  Austerlitz," 
and  more  than  twice  the  sum  of  the  opposing 
American  armies,  who  reeled  and  staggered  on  the 
bloody  crest  of  battle  amid  the  shell-riven  rocks  of 
Gettysburg.  Of  these,  the  eleven  seceding  States 
gave  86,205,  and  Delaware,  Maryland,  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  Kentucky  and  Missouri,  260,- 
327.  About  one-third  of  the  officers  of  Southern 
blood,  who  had  been  trained  at  the  Military  Acad- 
emy at  West  Point,  had  remained  to  share  the  for- 
tunes and  uphold  the  honor  of  the  glory-crowned 
standard  of  our  country.  Amid  the  thunders 
of  Dupont's  fleet  at  Port  Royal,  was  Captain 
Percival  Drayton  of  South  Carolina.  His  brother, 
a  general  of  the  Confederate  Army,  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  defensive  works  ashore.  At  Galves- 
ton,  in  1863,  a  Confederate  Major  Lea  led  the 
assault,  and  found  his  son,  Lieutenant  Lea,  dead 


40  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

on  the  blood-stained  decks  of  the  Harriet  Lane. 
Two  Crittendens,  Kentuckians  both,  were  major- 
generals  in  the  opposing  armies.  Colonel  Breck- 
inridge  at  the  battle  of  Atlanta  was  captured  by 
his  own  brother,  an  officer  in  that  famous  Confed- 
erate cavalry  which  followed  the  guidons  of  "Lit- 
tle Joe  Wheeler."  Mr.  Lincoln  knew  these  peo- 
ple. Who  that  had  read  the  story  of  little  Dela- 
ware in  Revolutionary  times  had  failed  to  learn 
"how  dead-game  are  the  Blue  Hen's  chickens"? 
The  President  knew  the  story  of  Smallwood's 
Maryland  battalion  of  maccaronies  and  dandies 
who,  under  the  eye  of  Washington  on  Long  Island, 
covered  the  retreat  of  his  shattered  forces,  and 
stood  for  more  than  four  hours  in  close  array, 
their  colors  flying,  under  the  cannonade  of  the 
British,  who  did  not  dare  to  advance  and  attack 
them,  though  six  times  their  number.  There  too 
was  the  fighting  strain,  never  excelled  for  heroism 
and  constancy,  from  the  land  of  Kenton,  of  Har- 
rod,  of  Shelby,  and  of  Boone,  the  land  where  the 
Emancipator  himself  was  born.  There  too  were 
the  simple  and  fearless  inhabitants  of  those  rugged 
mountain  ranges,  of  western  North  Carolina  and 
eastern  Tennessee,  extending  like  a  huge  bastion 
to  the  very  heart  of  the  Confederacy,  a  people  to 
whom  the  memory  of  Washington  was  ever  dear, 
who  whether  they  swiftly  rode  to  exterminate  Fer- 
guson and  his  Tories  at  Kings  Mountain,  to  pick 
off  the  regulars  of  Packenham  at  New  Orleans,  or 
to  rally  to  Sam  Houston  at  San  Jacinto,  there  to 
wreak  a  bloody  revenge  for  Goliad  and  the  Alamo, 
were  Americans  to  whom  no  other  flag  was  com- 
parable to  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  To  gather  and 
retain  the  military  power  of  this  dauntless  popu- 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  41 

lation,  to  hold  it  steadily  to  the  Flag,  was  the  task 
to  which  Mr.  Lincoln  devoted  the  wealth  of  his 
commonsense  and  sagacity,  his  intuitive  and  un- 
rivaled knowledge  of  the  American  character. 
With  this  end  in  view  his  "Border  State"  policy, 
as  it  was  termed,  was  adopted.  The  proclamation 
of  emancipation  was  long  preceded  by  the  offer 
of  righteous  compensation  to  the  owners  of  slaves 
who  would  recognize  the  authority  of  the  Union. 
The  proclamation  was  issued.  There  was  still  no 
variableness  or  shadow  of  turning  in  his  swerve- 
less  purpose,  to  secure  if  he  could,  compensation  to 
the  Southern  people  for  their  emancipated  slaves. 
Prompted  by  him  Congress  begins  the  effort  to 
make  this  purpose  effective.  The  House  votes  to 
issue  ten  millions  of  gold  bonds  bearing  six  per 
cent,  interest.  These  are  to  be  distributed  in  Mis- 
souri alone,  as  part  compensation  for  the  slave- 
holders of  that  State.  The  Senate  adds  five  mil- 
lions to  the  House  bill,  but  when  the  amended  bill 
is  returned  to  the  House  the  measure  is  defeated 
by  the  dilatory  tactics  of  the  Missouri  members. 
Profound  and  distressing  is  the  disappointment  of 
the  President.  He  had  hoped  that  Missouri  would 
lead  the  way,  and  that  the  other  Southern  States 
would  follow,  with  the  result  of  perpetual  union 
and  enduring  peace.  He  declares  that  bonds  were 
betterthanbondsmen,  and  that  two-leggedproperty 
was  a  very  bad  kind  to  hold.  But  this  was  not  all. 
When  forty  miles  of  the  Confederate  trenches  at 
Petersburg  are  held  by  only  thirty-three  thousand 
of  the  formidable  but  starving  veterans  of  Lee, 
Mr.  Lincoln  makes  a  visit  to  General  Grant.  On 
his  return  he  convenes  his  Cabinet.  He  reads  to 
his  official  advisers  a  message  to  Congress.  In 


42  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

this  paper  he  recommends  an  appropriation  of 
$300,000,000  to  be  apportioned  as  compensation 
among  Southern  planters  for  the  enfranchisement 
of  their  slaves.  To  the  united  opposition  of  the 
Cabinet  he  expresses  his  great  surprise.  How 
long  will  the  war  last?  he  asks.  No  one  answers. 
"One  hundred  days,"  he  predicts.  "We  are  expend- 
ing now  in  carrying  on  the  war  $3,000,000  a  day, 
which  will  amount  to  all  this  money."  It  would, 
he  thought,  restore  good  feeling.  He  adds  that 
"it  will  save  much  blood,  and  many,  many  lives." 

At  last  the  brave  and  irresistible  army  of  Gen- 
eral Grant  breaks  the  lines  at  Petersburg  and 
sweeps  them  from  end  to  end.  The  retreating  rem- 
nant of  Lee,  fighting  to  the  last,  is  annihilated. 
Though  overwhelmed,  and  crushed,  amid  the  kind 
and  gentle  attention  of  the  victorious  army,  furled 
in  military  glory  is  their  red-cross  flag  which  had 
streamed  amid  shouts  of  victory  on  many  a  stricken 
field, 

"For  there's  not  a  man  to  wave  it 
And  there's  not  a  sword  to  save  it, — 
And  the  hearts  that  fondly  clasped  it 
Cold  and  dead  are  lying  low." 

Then  finally  spoke  the  noble,  magnanimous  soul 
of  the  Nation's  Chief.  It  was  the  i  ith  of  April, 
1865.  He  had  but  three  days  to  live.  It  was  his 
last  address  to  his  countrymen.  He  said:  "We 
all  agree  that  the  seceded  States  so-called  are  out 
of  their  proper  practical  relation  with  the  Union, 
and  that  the  sole  object  of  the  Government,  civil 
and  military,  in  regard  to  those  States,  is  to  again 
give  them  proper  practical  relations.  Finding  them- 
selves safely  at  home  it  would  be  utterly  immaterial 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  43 

whether  they  had  been  abroad.  Let  us  all  join  in 
doing  the  acts  necessary  to  restore  the  proper  prac- 
tical relations  between  these  States  and  the  Union. 
It  is  also  unsatisfactory  to  some,"  he  continued, 
"that  the  elective  franchise  is  not  given  to  the  col- 
ored man.  I  would  myself  prefer  that  it  were  now 
conferred  on  the  very  intelligent  and  those  who 
serve  our  cause  as  soldiers." 

Then  with  "the  deep  damnation  of  his  taking 
off"  came  the  Iliad  of  our  woes — the  horrors  of 
Reconstruction.  This  was  based  upon  the  theory 
which  Mr.  Lincoln  had  declined  to  discuss,  namely, 
that  the  seceded  States  had  lost  their  status  in  the 
Union.  At  last  upon  the  night  of  our  despair 
there  broke  the  radiant  morning  of  our  hope.  It 
came  through  the  decisions  of  that  august  tribunal 
whose  jurisdiction  is  fixed  in  the  adamantine  of 
the  Constitution.  One  was  pronounced  by  a  jurist 
who  had  been  a  member  of  Lincoln's  Cabinet, 
who  had  resigned  in  anger,  but  whom  Lincoln 
had  elevated  to  the  highest  judicial  position  on 
earth,  Chief  Justice  of  our  Country.  It  seemed 
as  if  the  genius  of  America  had  breathed  upon 
the  ashes  of  the  martyr  slain,  and  that  the  soul 
of  Lincoln  had  met  the  Justices  in  their  consulta- 
tion room  to  deliberate,  to  counsel,  to  decide  that 
"the  Constitution  in  all  its  provisions  looks  to  an 
indestructible  Union  composed  of  indestructible 
States."  The  Court  saved  us.  Thus  fell  the 
policy  of  Reconstruction.  Thus  your  brethren 
though  long  self-exiled  and  now  disinherited,  were 
readmitted  to  the  stately  home  the  Fathers  had 
builded.  Thus  came  the  final,  eternal  triumph  of 
the  loving  heart,  the  prophetic  statecraft,  the  pa- 
triotic soul  of  Lincoln.  And  with  what  result? 


44  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

We  have  reconsecrated  our  altars.  We  have 
kindled  the  torch  of  education.  We  are  laying  the 
first  fruits  of  our  almost  untouched  resources  of 
field,  forest  and  mine  in  the  lap  of  our  reunited 
country.  We  have  recalled  our  love  for  the  flag, 
and  the  old  American  spirit  is  again  flaming  in  our 
hearts.  It  lives  in  the  sons  of  their  blood,  aye,  in 
the  surviving  veterans  of  Lee  and  Johnston  them- 
selves. At  Guasimas  it  was  there.  When  the 
Merrimac  was  steered  into  the  jaws  of  death  at 
Santiago  it  was  there.  With  Dewey  on  the  bridge 
of  the  Olympia,  it  was  there.  On  the  deck  of  the 
Winslow,  when  the  soul  of  Worth  Bagley,  slain  in 
his  country's  cause,  winged  its  way  to  heaven,  it 
was  there.  In  the  chaparral  of  Cuba,  in  the 
jungles  of  Luzon,  there  too  were  Southern  so\- 
diers,  wearing  the  blue  as  their  sires  long  ago 
wore  the  gray,  inspired  by  the  same  spirit  and  love 
of  country  which  glorified  American  manhood  on 
the  slopes  of  Manassas,  in  the  rush  of  Jackson's 
corps  at  Chancellorsville,  in  the  Bloody  Angle,  at 
the  explosion  of  the  Crater,  at  Chickamauga,  and 
on  a  thousand  fields  to  live  in  song  and  story  to 
the  latest  times.  And,  my  countrymen,  it  is  with 
the  flag  to  stay.  Whenever  the  safety  or  the  honor 
of  our  country  is  threatened  or  endangered,  the 
soul  of  Lincoln  will  thrill,  and  the  swords  of  Grant 
and  Lee  will  point  the  charging  columns  of  her 
sons,  no  longer  "dissevered,  discordant,  belliger- 
ent," but  forever  fondly  embracing  and  upholding, 

"The  Union  of  lakes,  the  Union  of  lands, 
The  Union  of  States  none  can  sever ; 
The  Union  of  hearts,  the  Union  of  hands, 
And  the  flag  of  our  Union  forever." 


FACING    PAGE    45 


ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE.* 

In  the  Capitol  at  Washington  a  hall  has  been 
devoted  to  the  images  of  our  illustrious  dead.  The 
chamber  is  worthy  of  its  consecration.  It  is  the 
old  Hall  of  Representatives.  There  in  storied 
marble  or  enduring  bronze,  stand  the  mighty, 
whose  patriotic  imagination  conceived,  or  whose 
military  prowess  made  possible,  the  great  Repub- 
lic, whose  prescient  statesmanship  framed  or 
whose  courage  and  eloquence  defended  its  organic 
law,  whose  inventive  genius  enchained  the  mys- 
terious forces  of  nature  to  its  service,  or  whose 
scientific  skill  ameliorates  the  sufferings  of  its  peo- 
ple. Majestic  monitors  to  the  day,  when  the  night 
has  fallen,  in  the  chamber  where  once  rang  the 
musical  voice  of  Clay,  the  lucid  periods  of  Cal- 
houn,  and  the  melodious  thunders  of  Webster,  in 
ghostly  shadows  the  silent  gathering  stands,  as  if 
to  guard  the  liberty  and  happiness  of  the  people 
whom  they  loved.  Each  State  there  may  place 
the  sculptor's  conception  of  her  two  most  illus- 
trious sons.  Virginia  from  her  golden  roll  has 
named  George  Washington,  and  the  only  other  in 
the  recorded  pages  of  time  to  be  spoken  in  the 
hazardous  connection — Robert  Edward  Lee. 

At  Stratford,  an  ancient  home  of  the  Lees,  on 
the  i  Qth  of  January,  1807,  the  hero  chieftain  was 
born.  Stratford  had  been  erected  for  a  famous 


*Delivered  at  Emory  College,  Oxford,  Georgia,  June,  1905 ; 
and  at  Yale  University,  New  Haven,  May,  1906. 

45 


46  ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE 

ancestor,  by  joint  contributions  from  the  East  India 
Company  and  a  Queen  of  England.  The  room  in 
which  the  child  was  born  had  witnessed  the  birth 
of  two  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
both  Lees.  No  American  had  a  prouder  lineage, 
and  no  other  depended  on  lineage  less.  His  father 
was  General  Henry  Lee,  the  famous  "Light  Horse 
Harry,"  as  he  was  termed  by  his  loving  and  admir- 
ing comrades  of  the  Continental  Army.  This  dis- 
tinguished officer  was  a  great  favorite  with  the 
patriot  commander.  His  mother  had  been  the 
charming  Lucy  Grimes,  that  "Lowland  beauty" 
on  whom  the  ever-susceptible  Washington,  in  his 
youth  lavished  a  share  of  that  devotion  for  the 
fair  sex,  which  ever  marks  the  truly  great.  But 
Henry  Lee  did  not  secure  his  promotion  in  the 
Continental  Army  through  the  romantic  affection 
of  Washington.  He  was  an  accomplished  and 
skilful  officer.  His  command  was  declared  to  be 
"the  finest  that  made  its  appearance  in  the  arena 
of  the  Revolutionary  War."  It  was  composed  of 
equal  proportions  of  cavalry  and  infantry,  all 
picked  officers  and  men.  It  is  interesting  to  know 
that  in  this  command  of  the  father  of  General  Lee 
there  rode  Peter  Johnston,  the  father  of  General 
Joseph  E.  Johnston,  ever  the  bosom  friend  of  Lee, 
and  the  commander  of  another  Confederate  army, 
which,  rivalling  in  all  soldierly  qualities  the  veter- 
ans of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  but  for  his 
untimely  removal,  thousands  believe,  would  have 
made  the  red  hills  of  Georgia  as  famous  for  de- 
fensive victory  as  the  plain  of  Marathon,  or  the 
slope  of  Waterloo. 

The  Revolutionary  War  ended,  General  Henry 
Lee  began  a  civil  career  not  less  noticeable  and 


ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE  47 

valuable  than  his  military  services.  With  John 
Marshall,  James  Madison,  Edmund  Randolph, 
and  George  Wythe  he  advocated  the  Federal 
Constitution  in  the  Virginia  Convention  of  1788. 
He  was  Governor  of  Virginia.  He  commanded 
fifteen  thousand  militia,  sent  by  President  Wash- 
ington to  quell  the  Whiskey  Insurrection  in  west- 
ern Pennsylvania.  Afterward,  as  a  Member  of 
Congress,  on  the  death  of  Washington  he  was 
appointed  to  deliver  an  address  in  commemoration 
of  the  services  of  that  illustrious  man. 

On  the  25th  of  March,  1818,  returning  from 
the  tropics,  where  he  had  gone  in  search  of  health, 
the  father  of  Robert  E.  Lee  died  at  beautiful 
Dungeness  on  Cumberland  Island  in  our  own  State, 
and  the  stone  which  yet  marks  his  resting-place, 
for  nearly  a  century  has  been  caressed  by  mosses 
pendant  from  Georgian  oaks,  and  wooed  by  Geor- 
gian winds,  which  o'er  the  ashes  of  this  hero  of  the 
Revolution  there  dispel  the  fragrance  of  the  mag- 
nolia and  the  bay. 

It  is  not  generally  known,  I  believe,  that  Robert 
E.  Lee  was  the  blood  relative  of  John  Marshall, 
the  great  Chief  Justice,  and  of  Thomas  Jefferson, 
the  author  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
and  twice  President  of  the  United  States.  Mar- 
shall's mother,  Mary  Keith;  Jefferson's  mother, 
Jane  Randolph,  and  Lee's  grandmother,  Mary 
Bland,  were  all  three  granddaughters  of  Colonel 
William  Randolph.  The  home  of  this  colonial 
ancestor  of  the  great  Confederate  chieftain  and 
his  illustrious  kinsmen,  was  on  an  island  in  the 
James,  from  whose  shores  one  might  have  heard 
the  thunder  of  McClellan's  artillery  at  Malvern 
Hill,  and  the  ripping  fire  of  Lee's  riflemen  when 


48  ROBERT   EDWARD    LEE 

at  Petersburg  they  were  steadily  holding  Grant  at 
bay. 

The  mother  of  Robert  E.  Lee  was  the  second 
wife  of  Henry  Lee.  Her  name  was  Anne  Hill  Carter. 
This  gentle  and  loving  woman  was  the  daughter 
of  Charles  Carter,  of  "Shirley,"  a  noble  mansion 
on  the  James.  To  the  care  of  young  Robert  his 
mother  was  committed  when  the  declining  health 
of  his  father  compelled  him  to  seek  relief  in  the 
West  Indies,  and  she  declared  that  her  affection- 
ate guardian,  was  both  a  daughter  and  a  son  to 
her.  The  purity,  gentleness  and  spiritual  Chris- 
tianity of  General  Lee  was  no  doubt  largely  ascrib- 
able  to  the  influence  of  the  mother,  and  the  con- 
stant association  of  mother  and  son,  so  beautiful 
to  the  people  of  Alexandria  of  that  day,  for  to  that 
historic  old  town,  the  boy  had  been  taken  that  he 
might  attend  school. 

In  the  year  1825  he  sought  admission  to  the 
United  States  Military  Academy  at  West  Point. 
His  application  was  successful.  Presented  to  Gen- 
eral Andrew  Jackson,  the  charming  modesty  of  the 
manly  and  athletic  youth  appealed  at  once  to  the 
soldierly  heart  and  experienced  eye  of  "Old  Hick- 
ory," who  secured  the  appointment  for  him.  In 
four  years  of  rigorous  discipline  and  arduous  study 
in  that  famous  institution,  he  never  received  a  de- 
merit, was  cadet  officer,  a  prime  distinction,  ad- 
jutant of  his  class,  and  among  forty-six  classmates 
graduated  second.  By  army  regulations  the  cadets 
who  graduate  with  honors  are  assigned  to  the 
Engineers,  and  so  in  1829  Lee  was  appointed  to 
this  corps  de  elite  of  the  Regular  Army. 

Like  Napoleon,  he  was  a  great  mathematician, 
and  also,  like  him,  was  averse  to  drink.  While  the 


ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE  49 

Army  of  Northern  Virginia  was  in  winter  quarters 
at  Petersburg  a  number  of  officers  were  one  night 
busily  engaged  in  discussing  an  abstruse  mathemat- 
ical problem,  with  occasional  resort  to  the  contents 
of  a  stone  jug,  environed  by  two  tin  cups.  While 
thus  absorbed,  General  Lee  quietly  came  in  to 
make  some  inquiry.  At  their  request  he  gave  a  so- 
lution of  the  problem,  and  departed,  the  military 
rivals  of  Newton  and  La  Place  expressing  to 
each  other  the  hope  that  the  General  had  not  ob- 
served the  jug  and  cups.  The  next  day  one  of 
them  in  the  presence  of  the  others  unhappily  im- 
parted to  General  Lee  a  very  strange  dream  he 
had  experienced  the  night  before.  The  General 
quietly  replied:  "That  is  not  at  all  remarkable. 
When  young  gentlemen  discuss  at  midnight  math- 
ematical problems,  the  unknown  quantities  of 
which  are  a  stone  jug  and  two  tin  cups,  they  may 
expect  to  have  strange  dreams." 

Lieutenant  Lee  was  soon  absorbed  with  the 
most  important  duties  of  his  corps.  He  was  as- 
sistant engineer  upon  the  defenses  of  Hampton 
Roads,  and  for  a  time  assistant  to  the  Chief  En- 
gineer, at  the  War  Department  in  Washington. 
He  developed  such  skill  that  in  1835  ne  was  made 
assistant  astronomer  of  the  commission  appointed 
to  define  the  boundary  between  Ohio  and  Michigan, 
and  was  soon  entrusted  with  the  duty,  successfully 
performed,  of  preventing  the  Mississippi  from 
leaving  its  channel,  and  thus  injuring  the  city  of 
St.  Louis. 

In  the  mean  time,  on  the  3Oth  of  June,  1831, 
he  was  united  in  marriage  to  Mary  Custis,  the 
daughter  of  George  Washington  Park  Custis  of 
Arlington.  The  father  of  this  bride  was  the  grand- 


50  ROBERT   EDWARD    LEE 

son  of  Mrs.  Martha  Washington,  and  the  adopted 
son  of  Washington  himself.  It  is  said  by  one  of 
his  most  interesting  biographers  that  Lee  was  in 
love  from  his  boyhood.  How  many  sweethearts 
he  had  is  not  disclosed.  They  were  doubtless 
numerous  at  this  period,  for  in  the  esteem  of  the 
fair  sex  the  profession  of  arms  is  equalled  only 
by  the  clergy  of  those  pious  denominations  wherein 
celibacy  is  the  exception  and  not  the  rule.  It  is 
said  that  the  young  mistress  of  Arlington  admired 
him  whenever  he  came  to  Alexandria  on  a  fur- 
lough from  the  Military  Academy.  A  handsome 
youth,  in  his  cadet  uniform  he  was  even  more  at- 
tractive, "straight,  erect,  symmetrical  in  form, 
with  finely  shaped  head  on  a  pair  of  broad  should- 
ers." The  wedding  at  historic  Arlington  was  wit- 
nessed by  a  happy  assemblage  of  fair  women  and 
brave  men  from  two  States,  and  from  the  Capital 
of  all  the  States.  A  contemporary  chronicler  de- 
clares that  the  stately  mansion  never  held  a  hap- 
pier assemblage.  As  to  the  bride,  writes  that 
preux  chevalier,  Fitzhugh  Lee,  it  is  difficult  to  say 
whether  she  was  more  lovely  on  that  memorable 
June  evening,  or  when,  after  many  years  had  pass- 
ed, she  was  seated  in  her  arm-chair  in  Richmond, 
busily  engaged  in  knitting  socks  for  the  sockless 
Southern  soldiers. 

The  most  ardent  passion  in  the  heart  of  this 
illustrious  American  was  love  for  his  wife  and 
children.  Buthe was notmore devotedthan discreet. 
One  of  his  biographers  recounts  that  when  his  eld- 
est son,  now  General  Custis  Lee,  was  a  very  little 
child,  his  father  took  him  to  walk  in  the  snow  one 
winter's  day.  For  a  time  he  held  the  little  fellow's 
hand,  but  soon  the  boy  dropped  behind.  Looking 


ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE  51 

over  his  shoulder,  he  saw  Custis  imitating  his 
every  movement,  with  head  and  shoulders  erect, 
putting  his  little  feet  exactly  in  his  father's  foot- 
prints. "When  I  saw  this,"  said  the  General,  "I 
said  to  myself,  it  behooves  me  to  walk  very 
straight,  when  this  fellow  is  already  following  in 
my  tracks." 

His  care  for  his  children  was  not  confined  to 
their  childhood.  Late  in  life  he  writes  to  his  son, 
Robert  E.  Lee,  Jr.,  "I  am  clear  for  your  mar- 
riage, if  you  select  a  good  wife,  otherwise  you  had 
better  remain  as  you  are  for  a  time.  An  im- 
provident or  uncongenial  woman  is  worse  than 
the  minks."  We  must  recall  that  these  bad  minks 
are  the  chief  pests  of  the  Virginia  farmer. 

When  General  Winfield  Scott  was  in  1846  en- 
trusted with  the  command  of  our  small  but  efficient 
army,  intended  for  the  reduction  of  the  city  of 
Mexico,  Robert  E.  Lee,  now  captain  of  Engineers, 
was  selected  by  that  great  soldier  as  a  member  of 
his  personal  staff.  So  profound  was  the  impres- 
sion he  made  on  his  veteran  commander,  that  years 
afterwards,  General  Scott  exclaimed  to  General 
Preston  of  Kentucky,  "I  tell  you  that  if  I  were  on 
my  deathbed  to-morrow,  and  the  President  of  the 
United  States  should  tell  me  that  a  great  battle 
was  to  be  fought  for  the  liberty  or  slavery  of  the 
country,  and  ask  my  judgment  as  to  the  ability  of 
a  commander,  I  would  say  with  my  dying  breath, 
'Let  him  be  Robert  E.  Lee.'  ' 

The  Mexican  War  over,  with  several  brevets 
for  distinguished  services  he  came  home  and  took 
part  in  constructing  defensive  works  for  Balti- 
more harbor,  served  for  three  years  as  Superin- 
tendent of  the  United  States  Military  Academy, 


52  ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE 

and  two  new  regiments  of  cavalry  having  in  1855 
been  authorized  by  act  of  Congress,  Captain  and 
Brevet-Colonel  R.  E.  Lee  of  the  Engineers  was 
promoted  to  be  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Second 
and  afterwards  to  the  colonelcy  of  the  First  Regi- 
ment. The  latter  was  his  command  at  the  out- 
break of  hostilities  between  the  Northern  and 
Southern  States. 

We  have  now  reached  the  period  in  the  life  of 
this  great  American  where  the  current  of  events 
swept  him  swiftly  to  the  foremost  place  among 
the  military  leaders  of  all  the  English  speaking 
race.  It  is  universally  known  that  as  General-in- 
Chief  of  the  Confederate  armies  Lee  at  once 
achieved  the  most  illustrious  rank  in  the  profes- 
sion of  arms,  and  was  subjected  to  that  fierce  and 
for  long  implacable  censure  which  invariably  at- 
tends the  most  furious  manifestation  of  human 
passion,  a  great  civil  war. 

The  time  seems  opportune  for  the  American  peo- 
ple to  dispassionately  inquire  whether  Robert  E.  Lee 
ever  merited  the  reprobation  even  of  the  most 
ardent  advocate  of  our  "perpetual  Union."  It 
is  also  opportune  for  their  countrymen  to  know 
that  Southern  men  may  rejoice  in  the  reunited  na- 
tion, and  yet  yield  not  a  heart-throb  of  devotion 
to  the  noble  soldiery  of  the  South  and  their  incom- 
parable chieftain.  Rich  as  it  is  in  military  glory, 
brilliant  though  the  bead-roll  of  its  heroes,  the  Na- 
tion can  no  longer  afford  to  question  the  military 
and  personal  honor  of  Lee  and  his  fearless  com- 
patriots, nor  can  our  country  with  all  its  acknowl- 
edged power  disclaim  that  warlike  renown  which 
gleamed  on  the  bayonets  and  blazed  in  the  volleys 
of  the  soldiers  of  the  South.  Nor  do  her  greatest 


ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE  53 

and  her  best  longer  question  the  one  or  decry  the 
other. 

In  the  "Memoirs  of  General  Grant"  that  great 
leader  declares  that  his  fearless  foemen  were  as 
sincere  in  their  devotion  to  the  cause  for  which 
they  fought,  as  were  his  own  gallant  armies  to  the 
flag  of  the  Union.  And  of  the  soldiers  of  the 
South  our  soldier  President  of  to-day  has  de- 
clared, that  "they  had  the  most  hearty  faith  in  the 
justice  of  their  cause,"  and  that  "he  is  but  a  poor 
American  whose  veins  do  not  thrill  with  pride  as 
he  reads  of  the  deeds  of  desperate  prowess  done 
by  the  Confederate  armies.  And  if  they  were 
sternly  fighting  for  their  convictions  of  right,  and 
if  the  Nation  should  thrill  with  the  story  of  their 
valor,  how  irrational  it  is  to  question  the  military 
or  personal  honor  of  their  hero  chieftain." 

To  the  Constitution  as  he  understood  it,  it  is 
easily  demonstrable  that  Washington  himself  was 
not  more  devoted  than  Lee.  His  written  and 
spoken  words,  in  that  day  of  ungovernable  passion, 
portray  in  the  clearest  light  his  immovable  aver- 
sion to  disunion.  On  January  23,  1861,  to  the 
wife  to  whom  his  heart  was  ever  open,  he  wrote 
of  Washington :  "How  his  spirit  would  be  grieved 
could  he  see  the  wreck  of  his  mighty  labors.  I  will 
not,  however,  permit  myself  to  believe  until  all 
grounds  of  hope  are  gone,  that  the  fruit  of  his 
noble  deeds  will  be  destroyed,  and  that  his  precious 
advice  and  virtuous  example  will  so  soon  be  for- 
gotten." On  the  same  day  he  wrote  to  his  son: 
"I  can  anticipate  no  greater  calamity  for  the  coun- 
try than  a  dissolution  of  the  Union.  It  would  be 
an  accumulation  of  all  the  evils  we  complain  of, 
and  I  am  willing  to  sacrifice  everything  but  honor 


54  ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE 

for  its  preservation.  Secession  is  nothing  but  revo- 
lution. The  framers  of  our  Constitution  never 
exhausted  so  much  labor,  wisdom,  and  forbear- 
ance in  its  formation,  and  surrounded  it  with  so 
many  safeguards  and  securities,  if  it  was  intended 
to  be  broken  by  every  member  of  the  Confederacy 
at  will.  It  was  intended  for  a  perpetual  union, 
which  can  only  be  dissolved  by  revolution,  or  the 
consent  of  the  people  in  convention  assembled." 
Since  this  and  much  other  evidence  of  General 
Lee's  devotion  to  the  Union  was  first  presented  at 
Emory  College,  there  came  to  the  speaker  a  letter 
from  Sacramento,  California.  It  is  written  with 
the  pathetic,  tremulous  hand  of  age  and  infirmity. 
It  seems  an  important  contribution  to  history,  and 
the  permission  of  the  writer  to  make  it  public  has 
been  obtained. 

"I  have  just  seen  in  my  daily  paper,"  wrote  my 
aged  correspondent,  "a  very  short  synopsis  of 
your  tribute  to  General  Lee,  delivered  at  Oxford, 
Georgia,  June  9th.  The  synopsis  is  altogether  too 
brief  for  me,  who  treasure  anything  said  in 
praise  of  that  brilliant  soldier  and  Christian  gen- 
tleman. I  ask  as  a  personal  favor  that  you  will  send 
me  a  copy  in  extenso,  if  it  was  so  published.  In 
line  with  the  quoted  letter  to  his  son,  I  recall  an  in- 
cident just  prior  to  the  civil  or  sectional  war.  Gen- 
eral, then  Lieutenant-Colonel  Lee,  in  command  of 
the  First  Cavalry,  U.  S.  A.,  had  his  headquarters 
at  Fort  Mason,  Texas.  I  was  then  a  first  lieuten- 
ant, temporarily  in  command  of  Company  A  of 
that  regiment.  I  left  him  at  the  post  when  I  went 
on  a  short  leave  of  absence  to  San  Antonio,  Texas. 
On  my  return  I  stopped  for  lunch  at  a  place  about 
half  way  to  Mason,  where  a  cool  spring  and  some 


ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE  55 

large  live  oaks  made  an  ideal  camp  or  resting- 
place.  A  few  minutes  after  I  got  there,  an  ambu- 
lance came  from  the  opposite  direction,  and  I  was 
pleasantly  surprised  to  see  General  Lee  step  from 
it.  After  a  cordial  greeting  he  told  me  he  had  the 
day  before  received  an  order  to  report  to  General 
Scott  at  Washington,  and  he  feared  it  was  to  con- 
sult in  regard  to  a  plan  of  campaign  against  the 
South.  He  also  said  that  Virginia,  true  to  its  past 
history,  would  not  act  upon  impulse  or  be  con- 
trolled by  other  States,  but  in  a  patriotic,  dignified 
manner  would  only  secede  after  exhausting  every 
honorable  means  to  avert  secession,  but  that  if  his 
State  seceded,  he  should  resign,  as  he  deemed  it 
his  duty  to  do  so.  As  he  talked  on,  time  and  again 
he  oft  repeated,  with  emotion  that  came  from  his 
heart,  the  hope  that  Virginia  would  not  secede  and 
that  the  Union  might  be  preserved.  His  emotion, 
emphasized  by  the  tears  that  moistened  his  eyes, 
impressed  me  the  more  deeply,  as  he  was  usually 
entirely  self-contained.  Virginia  seceded  in  the 
manner  he  prophesied,  he  resigned,  and  offered 
his  services  as  he  said  he  would.  I  next  saw  him 
when  I  reported  to  him  at  Richmond.  Every  day 
I  met  him  off  duty  at  our  lonely  post,  I  was  more 
impressed  with  the  simple  grandeur  of  his  private 
character,  and  speaking  of  him,  eulogy  becomes 
cold  truth.  I  am  unable  to  write  except  painfully 
with  a  pen,  and  must  therefore  beg  to  be  excused 
for  writing  with  a  pencil. 

"I  am,  very  respectfully  your  obedient  servant, 
"(Signed)  GEORGE  B.  COSBY, 

^'Ex-Brigadier  General,  C.  S.  A." 
Why  then,  it  has  been  asked,  did  Lee  draw  his 
sword  in  maintenance  of  secession,  which  he  fore- 


5 6  ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE 

saw  and  prophesied  would  inflict  such  calamities 
upon  the  people?  The  reply  is  that,  as  he  under- 
stood it,  he  did  no  such  thing.  His  attitude  is  made 
plain  in  the  letter  to  his  son,  already  quoted:  "If 
the  Union  is  dissolved  and  the  Government  dis- 
rupted, I  shall  return  to  my  native  State,  and  share 
the  miseries  of  my  people,  and,  save  in  defence, 
will  draw  my  sword  on  none."  The  evidence  that 
he  acted  from  the  loftiest  sense  of  duty  is  irresist- 
ible. To  Francis  P.  Blair,  who,  as  the  messenger 
of  President  Lincoln,  offered  to  him  the  active 
command  of  the  Union  armies  then  about  to  take 
the  field,  he  exclaimed:  "If  I  owned  the  four  mil- 
lion slaves  in  the  South,  I  would  be  willing  to  sacri- 
fice them  all  to  the  Union,  but  how  can  I  draw  my 
sword  upon  Virginia,  my  native  State?"  To  him, 
what  he  had  deemed  revolution  had  come.  He 
was  convinced  that  the  Union  was  in  fact  dissolved 
and  the  Government  in  fact  disrupted.  To  him, 
Virginia,  and  Virginia  alone,  was  his  country.  He 
was  dealing  with  no  theory,  but  with  what  he  be- 
lieved an  appalling  fact.  It  is  not  necessary  to  the 
vindication  of  Lee,  to  argue,  as  some  have  done, 
that  secession  was  a  constitutional  remedy,  nor 
that  it  was  thus  taught  at  West  Point.  This  made 
no  impression  upon  him.  We  have  seen  that  he 
did  not  believe  it.  This  much  is  plain — he  did 
believe  that  the  secession  of  the  Southern  States 
ex  proprio  vigore  did  in  fact  disrupt  and  dissolve 
the  Union;  that  by  revolution  already  accomplish- 
ed, the  Union  had  already  ceased  to  exist,  and 
henceforth  that  his  allegiance  was  due  to  the  State 
of  his  birth. 

General  Lee  was  now  fifty-three  years  of  age, 
and  his  character  was  known  to  thousands.    Never 


ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE  57 

in  any  army  was  the  morale  and  spirit  of  personal 
honor  more  elevated  than  among  the  renowned 
officers  who  held  command  in  the  old  Regular 
Army  of  the  United  States.  To  these  men  the 
reputation  of  Robert  E.  Lee  was  as  familiar  as 
household. words.  Suspicion  had  not  regarded; 
envy,  the  meanest  of  human  passions,  had  spared 
him.  Back-wounding  calumny  was  voiceless  be- 
fore the  honor  of  Lee.  From  his  youth  upward  he 
had  walked  with  God.  No  man  can  read  his  life 
and  utterances  and  hesitate  in  the  opinion  that  this 
man  not  only  believed,  but  had  positive  knowledge 
of  the  presence  of  the  Divine  Spirit.  His  every  an- 
nouncement of  victory  was  couched  in  terms  of  the 
sincerest  gratitude  to  God. 

He  was  no  propagandist  of  revolution.  He  re- 
iterated his  regret  for  the  bitterness  in  the  public 
discussions  of  the  day.  He  had  no  censure  of 
Southern  men  who,  like  Thomas,  Drayton,  and 
Farragut,  adhered  to  the  Union.  Nor  is  there  a 
syllable  of  evidence  that  he  attempted  to  with- 
draw from  the  Union  cause  any  one  of  the  multi- 
tude of  skilful  officers  who  were  inevitably  within 
the  scope  of  his  personal  influence.  For  his  own 
son,  Lieutenant  Custis  Lee,  a  brilliant  officer  in 
the  Regular  Army,  he  wrote :  "The  times  are  in- 
deed calamitous.  The  brightness  of  God's  coun- 
tenance seems  turned  from  us,  and  His  mercy 
stopped  in  its  blissful  current.  Tell  Custis  he  must 
consult  his  own  judgment,  reason,  and  conscience 
as  to  the  course  he  may  take.  I  do  not  wish  him 
to  be  guided  by  my  wishes  or  example.  If  I  have 
done  wrong,  let  him  do  better.  The  present  is  a 
momentous  question  which  every  man  must  settle 
for  himself,  and  upon  principle." 


5  8  ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE 

But  this  is  not  all.  He  was  as  self-sacrificial  as 
sincere.  His  life  had  been  spent  in  the  Army.  His 
cordial  friendships  were  there.  His  beloved  home 
Arlington  was  within  the  cordon  of  entrenchments 
of  the  National  Capital,  and  than  he  no  one  knew 
more  clearly  that  his  adhesion  to  the  cause  of  the 
South  meant  the  loss,  not  only  of  his  professional 
income,  but  of  all  his  earthly  means.  Ever  ob- 
servant, knowing  thoroughly  the  preponderant 
mechanical  and  military  power  of  the  Northern 
States,  and  knowing  far  better  than  most  Southern 
men  the  imperturbable  constancy  and  resolute 
courage  of  their  citizenship,  from  the  first  he  did 
not  deceive  himself  as  to  the  probable  outcome  of 
the  struggle.  To  Southern  men,  who  would  de- 
preciate the  valor  of  the  Union  soldier,  he  was 
accustomed  to  say,  "You  forget  that  we  are  all 
Americans." 

In  addition  to  all  of  these  considerations,  there 
were  influences  powerful  with  ordinary  men,  in- 
deed with  many  great  men,  by  which  it  was  sought 
to  retain  his  matchless  military  genius  in  the  serv- 
ice of  the  Union.  As  we  have  seen,  the  chief  com- 
mand of  the  Union  Armies  was  offered  him.  No 
greater  temptation,  or  greater  opportunity,  was 
ever  offered  a  man  of  his  marvelous  genius  for 
war.  And  after  all,  and  as  unanswerable  as  the 
unchallenged  word  and  the  stainless  honor  of  Lee, 
for  his  vindication,  there  stands  the  record  of  his 
people,  the  steadfastness,  the  constancy,  the  sacri- 
fices, the  heroism  of  eleven  American  States,  an 
empire  vaster  than  that  of  imperial  Rome  under 
the  reign  of  an  Antonine  or  a  Trajan.  "I  do  not 
know,"  said  Edmund  Burke,  "the  method  of  draw- 
ing up  an  indictment  against  a  whole  people." 


ROBERT   EDWARD    LEE  59 

He  desired  to  withhold  his  resignation  until 
after  his  State  had  acted.  He  wrote  to  his  brother, 
Sidney  Smith  Lee :  "After  the  most  anxious  in- 
quiry as  to  the  correct  course  for  me  to  pursue,  I 
concluded  to  resign  and  send  in  my  resignation 
this  morning.  I  wished  to  wait  until  the  ordinance 
of  secession  should  be  acted  upon  by  the  people 
of  Virginia;  but  war  seems  to  have  commenced 
and  I  am  liable  at  any  time  to  be  ordered  on  duty 
which  I  could  not  conscientiously  perform.  To 
save  me  from  such  a  position,  and  to  prevent  the 
necessity  of  resigning  under  orders,  I  had  to  act  at 
once,  and  before  I  could  see  you  again  on  the  sub- 
ject as  I  had  wished.  I  am  now  a  private  citizen, 
and  have  no  other  ambition  than  to  remain  at 
home.  Save  in  the  defence  of  my  native  State,  I 
have  no  desire  ever  again  to  draw  my  sword.  I 
send  you  my  warmest  love.  Your  affectionate 
brother,  R.  E.  Lee." 

He  offered  his  resignation.  It  was  promptly 
accepted.*  From  the  white  porch  of  his  home  he 

*The  biographer,  the  historian,  and  encyclopedist  have  made 
little,  if  any,  mention  of  the  acceptance  of  General  Lee's  resig- 
nation. I  am  indebted  to  the  Secretary  of  War  for  this  au- 
thoritative information,  and  the  extract  from  the  records  of 
the  War  Department  on  this  point,  herewith  printed: 

WAR  DEPARTMENT,  WASHINGTON,  March  27,  1909. 
MY  DEAR  JUDGE  SPEER  : 

In  response  to  your  letter  of  the  24th  instant,  relative  to  the 
acceptance  of  the  resignation  of  General  Robert  E.  Lee,  I  beg 
leave  to  say  that  the  official  records  show  not  only  that  the 
resignation  of  General  Lee  (then  Colonel,  First  Regiment, 
United  States  Cavalry)  was  accepted,  but  that  he  was  officially 
notified  of  its  acceptance,  and  that  the  fact  of  the  acceptance 
was  publicly  announced  in  special  orders  issued  to  the  Army. 

Thinking  that  copies  of  the  original  documents  in  the  case 
may  be  of  interest  to  you,  I  transmit  herewith  a  copy  of  Colonel 


60  ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE 

might  behold  the  long  columns  and  hear  the  ap- 
proaching tramp  of  armies,  hostile  to  his  people 
and  his  State.  The  sword  of  Lee  flashed  from  its 
scabbard.  His  resolve  now  that  the  awful  hour 
had  come,  to  die  if  need  be  for  his  loved  ones  and 
his  home, — 

"And  how  can  man  die  better 

Than  facing  fearful  odds, 
For  the  ashes  of  his  father 
And  the  temples  of  his  gods  ?" 


Lee's  tender  of  resignation,  dated  April  20,  1861,  and  of  the 
indorsements  thereon ;  also  a  copy  of  a  letter  from  the  office  of 
the  Adjutant-General  of  the  Army,  dated  April  27,  1861,  notify- 
ing Colonel  Lee  of  the  acceptance  of  his  resignation,  and  a  copy 
of  War  Department  Special  Orders,  No.  119,  of  April  27,  1861, 
publishing  the  announcement  of  the  acceptance  of  the  resigna- 
tion. 

Thanking  you   for  your  very  kind   expressions   concerning 
myself,  and  with  assurance  of  my  high  personal  regard,  I  am 

Very  truly  yours, 

(Signed)  J.  M.  DICKINSON,  Secretary  of  War. 

ARLINGTON,  WASHINGTON  CITY  P.  O.,  20  April,  1861. 
Honble.  SIMON  CAMERON,  Secy,  of  War. 

SIR:  I  have  the  honour  to  tender  the  resignation  of  my  Com- 
mission as  Colonel  of  the  ist  Regt.  of  Cavalry. 
Very  respt.  your  obt.  servt. 

R.  E.  LEE,  Col.  ist  Cavy. 

(Indorsement.) 

HEADQUARTERS  OF  THE  ARMY,  WASHINGTON,  April  20,  '61. 
Respectfully  forwarded  to  the  Adjutant-General  by  direction 
of  the  General-in-Chief. 

E.  D.  TOWNSEND,  Asst.  Adjt.-Genl. 

(Indorsement.) 

Respectfully  submitted  to  the  Secretary  of  War. 
A.  G.  O.,  Apr.  24,  '61.  L.  THOMAS,  Adjutant-General. 

(Indorsement.) 

Accepted.  SIMON  CAMERON,  Secy,  of  War. 

Apl.  25,  '61. 


ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE  61 

Napoleon  said  that  Marshal  Turenne  was  the 
only  example  of  a  general  who  grew  bolder  as 
he  grew  older.  The  campaigns  of  Lee  will  dem- 
onstrate that,  aggressive  from  the  first,  his  au- 
dacity was  intensified  until  that  final  day  at  Appo- 
mattox,  when  his  worn,  wasted,  and  starving  vet- 
erans, assailed  on  rearand  flanks  by  the  massy  Army 
of  the  Potomac,  were  confronted  by  the  overpow- 
ering force  of  the  Army  of  the  James.  Indeed, 
the  predominant  features  of  his  generalship  are  a 
daring  audacity,  associated  with  the  clearest  pene- 
tration of  his  adversary's  designs,  the  profoundest 
combinations  of  strategy,  and  an  influence  over  his 
soldiers  unsurpassed  by  that  of  a  Napoleon  or  a 
Caesar. 

Holding  the  fortifications  of  Richmond  in  June, 
1862,  with  a  small  force,  and  summoning  to  his 
aid  from  the  Valley  of  Virginia  the  illustrious 
Stonewall  Jackson,  he  boldly  determined  to  cut 
loose  from  his  entrenchments  with  the  remainder 
of  his  army,  and  assailing  the  right  flank  of  Mc- 
Clellan,  sweep  down  the  north  side  of  the  Chicka- 
hominy,  and  roll  up  like  a  scroll  the  long  lines  of 

ADJUTANT  GENERAL'S  OFFICE, 

WASHINGTON,  April  27,  1861. 
Col.  ROBERT  E.  LEE,  ist  Cavalry,  Washington,  D.  C. 

SIR:  Your  resignation  has  been  accepted  by  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  to  take  effect  the  25th  instant. 
I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

(Sgd.)  JULIUS  P.  GARESCHE,  Asst.  Adjt.-General. 

WAR  DEPARTMENT,  WASHINGTON,  April  27,  1861. 
Special  Orders,  No.  119. 

I.  The  resignations  of  the  following  officers  have  been  ac- 
cepted by  the  President  to  take  effect  on  the  dates  set  opposite 
their  names  respectively,  to-wit, 

Colonel  Robert  E.  Lee,  First  Cavalry,  April  25,  1861. 

By  order  L.  THOMAS,  Adjutant-General. 


62  ROBERT   EDWARD    LEE 

his  opponent,  raise  the  siege  of  the  Confederate 
capital,  and  if  possible  capture  the  gallant  and 
powerful  army  by  which  it  was  threatened. 

The  astonishing  military  genius  of  his  lieuten- 
ant, whom  General  Lee  now  called  to  his  aid,  Gen- 
eral Thomas  Jonathan  Jackson,  immortalized  as 
"Stonewall,"  has  cast  unfading  luster  on  the  arms 
of  the  American  soldier.  This  great  commander 
had  amazed  the  world  with  his  campaign  in  the 
Valley  of  Virginia.  His  thoughts  too  were  ever 
with  God.  A  Presbyterian,  and  one  of  that  nu- 
merous class,  the  Southern  Puritan,  his  massive 
iron  jaw  gave  earnest  to  his  statement  that  to  be 
under  a  heavy  fire  filled  him  with  "delicious  ex- 
citement." While  in  camp  he  organized  prayer- 
meetings  among  the  soldiers.  However,  that 
dashing  sabreur,  Fitzhugh  Lee,  whose  manoeuvres 
at  that  period  of  his  life  perhaps  did  not  compass 
many  of  these  devotional  exercises,  informs  us 
that  when  the  meeting  began,  the  hymn  was  raised, 
and  the  proceedings  were  evidently  a  success, 
Stonewall  often  went  to  sleep.  It  was  General 
Ewell  who  declared  that  he  admired  Jackson's 
genius,  but  that  he  never  saw  one  of  his  couriers 
approach  without  expecting  an  order  to  assault  the 
North  Pole.  It  was  this  renowned  officer,  who 
eluding  the  army  of  McDowell  in  his  front,  with 
his  seasoned  veterans,  now  swiftly  joined  Lee 
on  his  left,  when  they  precipitated  themselves  upon 
the  foe.  In  seven  successive  days  of  furious  fight- 
ing, McClellan  after  tremendous  losses  of  men 
and  munitions  of  war  was  driven  to  the  James,  the 
siege  of  Richmond  was  raised,  and  the  Union 
Army  was  transferred  by  water  to  the  defense  of 
the  Union  Capital  itself.  In  the  mean  time,  Lee 


ROBERT   EDWARD    LEE  63 

had  determined  if  possible  to  expel  the  Union 
forces  from  the  soil  of  Virginia,  and  with  little 
respite  for  his  army,  now  flushed  with  victory, 
moved  northward  against  the  army  of  Major-Gen- 
eral  Pope.  This  officer  was  the  possessor  of  no 
small  degree  of  military  capacity.  He  was,  how- 
ever, not  more  unfortunate  in  the  result  of  his 
contest  with  Lee,  than  in  the  proclamations  with 
which  he  announced  his  plans.  He  stated  that 
his  headquarters  would  be  in  the  saddle,  that  he 
was  not  accustomed  to  see  anything  of  rebels  but 
their  backs,  etc.  General  Lee  started  Stonewall 
for  this  confident  warrior.  General  McClellan, 
who  was  a  highly  scientific  commander,  anxiously 
observing  the  situation,  did  not  have  his  appre- 
hensions altogether  allayed  by  Pope's  proclama- 
tions. He  wired  to  the  War  Department  in  Wash- 
ington: "I  don't  like  Jackson's  movements.  He 
will  suddenly  appear  when  least  expected."  Gen- 
eral McClellan  was  prophetic,  for  Jackson  struck 
Pope  with  terrible  impact  at  Cedar  Mountain,  by 
a  tremendous  forced  march  swept  around  his  flank, 
tore  up  the  railroad  in  his  rear,  captured  a  number 
of  guns,  many  prisoners,  and  several  trains  loaded 
with  stores  and  munitions  of  war.  The  weary 
"foot  cavalry"  of  Jackson,  as  they  were  called, 
now  revelled  in  luxuriant  plenty.  They  were  not, 
as  usual,  violating  the  scriptural  injunction  by  say- 
ing "what  shall  we  eat,  or  what  shall  we  drink,  or 
wherewithal  shall  we  be  clothed."  And  now  Pope, 
perceiving  the  exposed  position  of  this  Confederate 
force,  informed  General  McDowell  that  he  would 
"bag  Jackson  and  his  whole  crowd" ;  but  that  war- 
rior, after  his  soldiers  were  stuffed  to  repletion 
with  the  delicious  "commissaries"  designed  for  the 


64  ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE 

nourishment  of  Pope's  army,  bearing  off  every- 
thing not  too  hot  to  hold,  or  too  heavy  to  carry, 
set  fire  to  the  rest,  and  leisurely  marched  away  in 
another  direction.  Pope  marched  to  Manassas. 
Jackson  was  not  there.  Misled  by  the  track  of 
two  divisions,  which  to  deceive  him  Jackson  had 
sent  in  that  direction,  Pope  posted  off  to  Center- 
ville,  but  Jackson  was  gone.  In  the  meai  time, 
"Old  Jack,"  with  "all  his  war  paint  on,"  and  with 
his  intrepid  veterans,  was  in  battle  formation  wait- 
ing for  Pope,  behind  the  line  of  an  unfinished  rail- 
road stretching  from  the  Warrenton  turnpike  in 
the  direction  of  Sudley's  Mill,  where  it  suited  him 
to  make  his  fight. 

Against  this  single  corps  of  Lee's  army,  Pope, 
having  been  largely  reinforced  by  McClellan,  di- 
rected a  dreadful  attack.  The  disproportion  in 
numbers  against  the  gray  fighters  was  terrifying, 
but  with  unshaken  tenacity  they  held  their  ground. 
At  last,  Longstreet's  columns  came  pouring 
through  Thoroughfare  Gap.  Lee,  massing  his 
artillery  against  the  flank  of  Pope's  army  and  at 
the  same  time  directing  against  it  the  flaming  ad- 
vance of  the  Confederate  infantry,  paralyzed  the 
attack  on  Jackson.  The  Union  army,  driven  from 
the  field  with  fearful  loss,  took  refuge  in  the  en- 
trenchments at  Washington,  and  the  victory  was 
complete.  Well  might  the  exultant  boys  in  gray 
lift  their  voices  in  their  lilting  marching  song: 

"Lee  formed  his  line  of  battle, 

Said,  'Boys,  you  need  not  fear, 
For  Longstreet's  in  our  center, 
And  Jackson's  in  their  rear.' " 

Of  the  sensations  of  General  Pope,  on  the  other 


ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE  65 

hand,  we  have  no  adequate  account,  but  notwith- 
standing his  recent  proclamations,  it  is  possible 
that  he  was  willing  to  resign  his  task  to  some  other 
great  general.  Possibly  his  state  of  mind  was  like 
that  of  an  unregenerate  church  member,  who  had 
listened  to  a  long  and  somewhat  tiresome  sermon 
on  the  Major  and  Minor  Prophets.  And  when 
the  good  preacher  asked,  "Where  shall  we  place 
Amos?"  "Brother,"  said  the  tired  one  rising  up, 
"Amos  may  have  my  place  if  he  wants  it,  for  I'm 
going  home." 

Not  content  with  these  successes,  General  Lee 
determined  to  carry  the  war  into  his  enemy's  coun- 
try. The  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  its  bands 
playing  the  inspiring  strain  "Maryland,  My  Mary- 
land," forded  the  swift  Potomac,  while  Jackson 
assailed  a  large  force  of  his  enemy  at  Harper's 
Ferry  and  reduced  that  place.  Leaving  another 
to  arrange  the  details  of  the  surrender,  Jackson 
marched  with  amazing  speed  to  join  Lee  at 
Sharpsburg,  where  the  latter  was  confronted  by 
the  magnificent  army  of  McClellan.  General  Lee 
was  now  in  great  danger.  Nothing  indeed  saved 
him  but  the  skill  of  his  dispositions  and  the  des- 
perate determination  with  which  his  slender  line 
of  infantry,  almost  without  artillery  support,  for 
hour  after  hour,  beat  back  and  fought  to  ex- 
haustion one  of  the  bravest  and  most  powerful 
armies  ever  assembled  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes. 
Fighting  McClellan  to  a  standstill,  Lee  at  his  leis- 
ure coolly  withdrew  his  army  across  the  Potomac. 
Here  he  was  followed,  but  with  such  display  of  cau- 
tion by  the  Federal  commander,  that  the  Govern- 
ment at  Washington,  losing  patience  with  that  distin- 
guished officer,  removed  him  from  command.  Gen- 


66  ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE 

eral  Burnside,  a  courtly  gentleman  and  heroic  sol- 
dier, was  now  entrusted  with  the  task  of  taking 
Richmond. 

The  winter  was  now  at  hand,  and  Burnside 
moved  his  gigantic  force  to  Fredericksburg.  From 
the  heights  of  Stafford,  like  Moses  on  Pisgah,  he 
"viewed  the  landscape  o'er,"  but  no  "sweet  fields 
beyond  the  swelling  flood"  enchanted  his  vision.  In- 
stead, the  spectacle  of  Lee's  gray  fighters,  holding 
every  coign  of  vantage,  inviting  him  to  come 
across.  So  indeed  he  did,  and  through  one  of  the 
bloodiest  days  in  all  its  glorious  history,  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  again  and  again  essayed  to  break 
those  fierce  lines  which  barred  its  way  to  Rich- 
mond. The  carnage  was  fearful,  and  despite  the 
unshrinking  courage  of  the  Union  Army,  under 
the  pitiless  death  hail  the  task  was  impossible. 
For  a  moment,  in  that  portion  of  the  line  com- 
manded by  Stonewall  Jackson,  the  Confederate 
formation  was  broken,  but  the  brave  division  of 
General  Jubal  Early  came  rushing  to  the  point  of 
danger.  Ever  jocular  in  the  moment  of  greatest 
peril,  the  shouts  of  those  farmer  boys  were  heard 
above  the  roar  of  battle  and  the  shriek  of  shells: 
"Here  comes  old  Jubal ;  let  Jubal  straighten  that 
fence."  And  the  fence  was  straightened  and  not 
again  broken.  Jackson's  men  feigned  to  ascribe 
their  temporary  disorder  to  the  fact  that  their  gen- 
eral had  that  day  replaced  his  ordinarily  dingy  suit 
with  a  bright  new  uniform  resplendent  with  gold 
lace.  Some  of  them  said  that  "Old  Jack  was 
afraid  of  his  clothes  and  would  not  get  down  to 
his  work." 

After  this  disaster  General  Burnside  was  re- 
moved, and  General  Hooker  was  placed  in  com- 


ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE  67 

mand  of  the  Union  army.  Crossing  the  Rappa- 
hannock  and  RapiJan  above  Fredericksburg  with- 
out resistance,  the  moring  of  April  the  3Oth,  1863, 
.  found  his  army  concentrated  at  Chancellorsville. 
At  the  same  time,  General  Sedgwick  crossed  the 
river  below  Fredericksburg  with  a  force  of  fifty- 
two  thousand  four  hundred  and  one  men.  It  was 
presumed  that  Lee  would  confront  this  powerful 
demonstration  on  his  right,  and  thus  enable 
Hooker  to  move  down  the  river,  overwhelm  his 
left  and  take  his  fortifications  in  reverse. 

In  the  mean  time,  Stuart's  cavalry  had  kept  the 
Confederate  commander  advised  of  all  these 
movements.  The  cool  judgment  of  Lee  was  not 
disturbed.  He  saw  that  Sedgwick  was  three  miles 
below  Fredericksburg,  and  that  Hooker  was  ten 
miles  above.  He  determined  to  retard  the  march 
of  Sedgwick,  to  move  on  Hooker,  and  crush  him  be- 
fore he  could  get  out  of  the  Wilderness.  On  the 
morning  of  the  first  of  May,  General  Hooker,  per- 
suaded that  Lee  was  attempting  to  stand  off  Sedg- 
wick thirteen  miles  away,  put  his  massive  columns 
in  motion  on  the  road  towards  Fredericksburg; 
but  when  the  head  of  his  columns  debouched  from 
the  forest  near  Chancellorsville,  to  his  amaze- 
ment he  beheld  the  ragged  but  confident  veterans 
of  Lee  advancing  in  line  of  battle.  General  Hook- 
er was  a  soldier  of  fame  and  a  man  of  intrepid 
courage.  He  had  meant  to  attack  Lee,  and  it  had 
not  occurred  to  him,  it  seems,  that  he  might  be  him- 
self attacked.  Perceiving  that  Lee  would  destroy 
the  heads  of  his  columns  as  fast  as  they  would 
come  out  of  the  forest,  he  ordered  his  army  to  fall 
back  to  their  lines  around  Chancellorsville.  Lee 
swiftly  followed.  The  Confederate  leader  soon 


68  ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE 

discovered  that  frontal  attack  on  Hooker's  line 
was  impossible;  but  that  night  a  belligerent  par- 
son, the  Rev.  Dr.  Lacy,  came  with  Stuart  to  Lee, 
and  informed  him  that  it  was  practicable  to  move 
around  by  the  Wilderness  tavern,  and  strike  Hook- 
er on  his  right  flank.  Jackson,  with  his  whole 
corps,  was  immediately  ordered  to  make  this 
movement. 

The  next  morning  witnessed  the  last  meeting, 
in  this  life,  between  Lee  and  Jackson.  Lee  was 
standing  hard  by  the  bivouac,  watching  Jackson's 
troops  as  they  sped  by  with  the  untiring  pace  of  the 
forced  march.  Jackson  stopped  and  exchanged 
a  few  words  with  his  noble  chief,  but  speedily  re- 
joining his  troops,  their  last  parting  was  over.  The 
Duke  of  Wellington,  it  is  said,  declared,  UA  man 
of  fine  Christian  sensibilities  is  totally  unfit  for  the 
profession  of  a  soldier;"  but  of  this  incomparable 
pair  it  is  true  that  all  the  bloody  annals  of  our  race 
contain  no  account  of  two  others  who  surpassed 
them  in  military  genius  or  achievement,  and  of  no 
other  with  more  implicit  faith  in  the  promise  to 
the  Christian  of  salvation  and  immortal  life  be- 
yond the  grave. 

The  sequel  of  the  movement  of  Jackson's  corps 
is  familiar  history.  Fitzhugh  Lee  by  personal 
reconnaissance  had  located  the  exact  position  of 
the  Union  right,  and  conducted  that  great  sol- 
dier and  his  terrible  infantry  to  the  point  of  at- 
tack. Swiftly  forming  his  divisions  as  they  came 
up  at  right  angles  to  Hooker's  line,  Jackson's  men 
with  their  terrifying  charging  yell  burst  upon  the 
unsuspecting  Federals.  It  is  said  that  "Rabbits 
and  squirrels  ran,  and  flocks  of  birds  flew  in  front 
of  the  advance  of  these  twenty-six  thousand  men, 


ROBERT   EDWARD    LEE  69 

who  had  dropped  so  suddenly  into  their  forest 
haunts.  The  surging,  seething  sea  swept  away  all 
barriers.  Many  of  the  officers  attempted  to  turn 
back  the  human  tide,  but  as  well  might  Pharaoh 
have  tried  to  resist  the  walls  of  the  Red  Sea.  Lee's 
audacity  had  won.  Hooker's  right  had  been  fairly 
turned  and  rolled  in  a  sheet  of  flame  upon  his 
center." 

Now  the  night  had  fallen.  In  the  confusion  and 
darkness,  Stonewall  Jackson  fell  by  the  fire  of  his 
own  men.  Jackson  had  lost  his  left  arm;  Lee,  as 
he  declared,  the  right  arm  of  his  army.  To  the 
last,  Jackson's  men  upheld  to  the  uttermost  their 
renown  as  incomparable  soldiers,  but  never  again 
did  men  behold  the  fire  and  fury  of  their  battle, 
as  when  driven  by  the  impassioned  energy  of  that 
impetuous  soul,  now  gone  to  its  reward.  The  next 
morning  the  battle  was  renewed.  After  a  bloody 
day  Hooker  and  Sedgwick  were  both  driven  across 
the  Rappahannock,  and  for  two  years  more  the 
Stars  and  Bars  were  to  float  defiantly  above  the 
Confederate  Capital. 

With  his  army  at  the  very  acme  of  its  morale 
and  its  efficiency,  Lee  now  determined  to  again 
cross  the  Potomac.  Thus  the  campaign  of  Gettys- 
burg began.  No  other  great  movement  directed 
by  the  Southern  commander  ever  had  more  hope- 
ful promise  of  success.  Never  so  formidable  was 
that  heroic  American  army  of  the  Southern  States, 
seasoned  and  inured  to  war,  which  marched  under 
their  shot-riven  battle-flags  to  Gettysburg,  the 
high-water  mark  of  the  Confederacy.  The  story 
of  this  battle  of  Titans  is  an  oft-told  tale.  I  will 
not  discuss  the  causes  of  disaster  there  to  the  Army 
of  Northern  Virginia.  The  profession  of  arms 


70  ROBERT   EDWARD    LEE 

and  the  students  of  military  history  the  world 
around  discuss  it.  But  it  is  known  of  all  men  that 
it  was  ascribable  neither  to  error  of  military  judg- 
ment, to  faulty  dispositions  on  the  part  of  the  Con- 
federate commander,  nor  to  the  want  of  valor 
and  enthusiasm  by  his  devoted  soldiery.  Beyond 
the  nobility,  almost  superhuman,  of  assuming  the 
blame  himself,  Lee  was  silent.  From  his  lips  no 
word  of  censure  ever  fell  upon  the  military  renown 
of  his  great  corps  commander,  the  intrepid  and 
immovable  Longstreet. 

We  have  seen  Lee  in  victory.  Let  us  for  a  mo- 
ment regard  him  in  defeat.  Colonel  Freemantle 
of  the  Coldstream  Guards  is  our  witness.  Pick- 
ett's  division  had  been  destroyed.  In  the  hour  of 
their  repulse  the  Confederate  officers  were  every 
moment  expecting  the  counter-stroke,  like  that  with 
which  at  Waterloo  Wellington  had  crushed  Na- 
poleon. Said  the  distinguished  officer  of  the  British 
Army,  from  whose  account  I  quote:  "The  further 
I  got,  the  greater  became  the  number  of  wounded. 
At  last  I  came  to  a  perfect  stream  of  them  flocking 
through  the  woods  in  numbers  as  great  as  the 
crowd  in  Oxford  Street  in  the  middle  of  the  day. 
Some  were  walking  alone  on  crutches,  composed 
of  two  rifles,  others  were  supported  by  men  less 
badly  wounded  than  themselves,  and  others  were 
carried  on  stretchers  by  the  ambulance  corps;  but 
in  no  case  did  I  see  a  sound  man  helping  the 
wounded  to  the  rear,  unless  he  carried  the  red 
badge  of  the  ambulance  corps.  They  were  still 
under  a  heavy  fire;  shells  were  continually  bring- 
ing down  great  limbs  of  trees,  and  carrying  fur- 
ther destruction  amongst  this  melancholy  proces- 
sion." Colonel  Freemantle  continues :  "The  con- 


ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE  71 

duct  of  General  Lee  was  perfectly  sublime.  He 
was  engaged  in  rallying  and  in  encouraging  the 
broken  troops,  and  was  riding  about,  a  little  in 
front  of  the  wood,  quite  alone 
the  whole  of  his  staff  being  engaged  in  a  similar 
manner  further  to  the  rear.  His  face,  which  is 
always  placid  and  cheerful,  did  not  show  signs  of 
the  slightest  disappointment,  care,  or  annoyance; 
and  he  was  addressing  to  every  soldier  he  met  a 
few  words  of  encouragement,  such  as,  'All  this 
will  come  right  in  the  end;  we'll  talk  it  over  after- 
wards; but,  in  the  mean  time,  all  good  men  must 
rally.  We  want  all  good  and  true  men  just  now,' 
etc.  He  spoke  to  all  the  wounded  men  that  passed 
him,  and  the  slightly  wounded  he  exhorted  to  'bind 
up  their  hurts  and  take  up  a  musket'  in  this  emer- 
gency. Very  few  of  them  failed  to  answer  his  ap- 
peal, and  I  saw  many  badly  wounded  men  take 
off  their  hats  and  cheer  him.  He  said  to  me,  'This 
has  been  a  sad  day  for  us,  Colonel, 
a  sad  day,  but  we  can't  expect  always  to  gain  vic- 
tories.' It  was  difficult,"  said  Colonel  Free- 
mantle,  "to  exaggerate  the  critical  state  of  affairs 
as  they  appeared  about  this  time.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  misfortune  which  had  so  suddenly  befallen 
him,  General  Lee  seemed  to  observe  everything, 
however  trivial.  When  a  mounted  officer  began 
licking  his  horse  for  shying  at  the  bursting  of  a 
shell,  he  called  out,  'Don't  whip  him,  Captain, 
don't  whip  him.  I've  got  just  such  another  foolish 
horse  myself,  and  whipping  does  no  good.'  Gen- 
eral Lee  and  his  officers  were  evidently  fully  im- 
pressed with  a  sense  of  the  situation;  yet  there  was 
much  less  noise,  fuss,  or  confusion  of  orders  than 
at  an  ordinary  field-day.  The  men  as  they  were 


72  ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE 

rallied  in  the  wood  were  brought  up  in  detach- 
ments, and  lay  down  quietly  and  coolly  in  the  posi- 
tions assigned  to  them." 

In  all  that  gallant  army  Colonel  Freemantle 
saw  but  one  demoralized  man.  "I  happened," 
he  said,  "to  see  a  man  lying  flat  on  his  face  in  a 
small  ditch,  and  I  remarked  that  I  didn't  think  he 
seemed  dead;  this  drew  General  Lee's  attention 
to  the  man,  who  commenced  groaning  dismally. 
Finding  appeals  to  his  patriotism  of  no  avail,  Gen- 
eral Lee  had  him  ignominiously  set  on  his  legs  by 
some  neighboring  gunners."  This  observer  quotes 
the  non-commissioned  officers  and  privates  to 
whom  he  talked:  "When  they  saw  General  Lee, 
they  would  say,  'We've  not  lost  confidence  in  the 
old  man;  this  day's  work  won't  do  him  no  harm. 
'Uncle  Robert'  will  get  us  into  Washington  yet; 
you  bet  he  will,'  "  etc.  And  he  adds,  "No  words 
that  I  can  use  will  adequately  express  the  extraor- 
dinary patience  and  fortitude  with  which  the 
wounded  Confederates  bore  their  sufferings." 

The  day  after  this  terrible  and  disastrous  fight- 
ing, the  retreating  army  of  Lee  again  came  under 
the  observation  of  this  critical  and  impartial  ob- 
server. There  were  no  signs  of  disorder  or  de- 
feat. He  said,  "The  road  was  full  of  soldiers 
marching  in  a  particularly  lively  manner  *  *  * 
the  wet  and  mud  seemed  to  have  produced  no 
effect  whatever  on  their  spirits,  which  were  as 
boisterous  as  ever.  They  had  got  hold  of  colored 
prints  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  which  they  were  passing 
about  from  company  to  company,  with  many  re- 
marks upon  the  personal,  beauty  of  Uncle  Abe. 
The  same  old  chaff  was  going  on  of  'come  out  of 


ROBERT   EDWARD    LEE  73 

that  hat  *  *  *  I  know  you  are  in  it  *  *  * 
I  see  your  legs  a-dangling  down,'  "  etc. 

Indeed,  the  evidence  of  impartial  observers,  of 
Confederate  officers,  and  of  the  events  after  the 
battle,  notwithstanding  this  terrible  experience, 
and  the  loss  of  twenty  thousand  four  hundred  and 
fifty-one  men,  is  that  the  morale  of  Lee's  army  was 
in  little  or  nothing  impaired.  It  had  inflicted  a 
loss  upon  its  gallant  opponents  of  twenty-three 
thousand  and  three  killed,  wounded  and  captured. 
No  serious  attack  was  made  upon  its  retreating 
columns.  So  severe  was  the  blow  it  had  inflicted 
upon  General  Meade,  and  so  cautious  was  his  ad- 
vance, that,  nettled  by  criticisms  from  Washing- 
ton, the  general  of  the  victorious  army  at  once 
tendered  his  resignation. 

But  General  Meade  was  not  to  blame  for  his 
caution.  It  is  obvious  that  before  there  can  be  a 
pursuit,  there  must  be  somebody  to  run  away,  and 
nobody  ran  from  Gettysburg.  Indeed,  after  the 
First  Manassas,  a  routed  or  disorganized  army 
was  scarcely  seen  on  either  side  in  the  great  Civil 
War.  The  opposing  armies  were  of  the  people. 
When  the  call  to  arms  came,  the  plow  was  stopped 
in  the  furrow,  the  whirr  of  machinery  was  hushed, 
and  the  hammer  slumbered  voiceless  on  the  anvil. 
Oh,  how  quickly  they  came,  and  how  gallantly  and 
lightly  they  marched  into  the  valley  and  the 
shadow  of  death.  They  could  not  foresee  its  hor- 
rors. Theirs  had  been  the  piping  times  of  peace. 
But  when  they  closed  with  the  foe  on  the  crest  of 
battle,  also  theirs  was  the  blood  and  nerve  the 
king  of  terrors  himself  could  not  appall.  Four 
years  of  deadly  fighting,  dreadful  suffering,  and 
unshaken  constancy  convinced  the  world  that  the 


74  ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE 

military  virtues  of  the  American  soldier  have 
never  been  surpassed.  Whether  like  the  thin  red 
line  that  held  the  slopes  at  Waterloo,  they  with- 
stood the  assault  and  rolled  back  the  charging 
columns,  or  like  the  Household  Brigade  at  Stein- 
kirk,  with  the  shout,  "We  must  do  it  with  the 
sword,"  the  gentlemen  of  France  hurled  their  col- 
umn on  the  foe,  they  were  equally  unsurpassed. 
But  few  remain.  Most  are  old  and  worn.  The 
untiring  step  which  kept  the  pace  of  the  forced 
march  is  now  feeble.  The  hand  that  pulled  the 
lanyard  or  guided  the  steed  is  tremulous.  The 
clear  eye  that  glanced  along  the  deadly  rifle  is 
growing  dim.  And  when  the  last  of  the  venerable 
throng  shall 

"Sink  to  rest, 
With  all  his  country's  wishes  blest," 

then  will  their  deeds,  as  they  deserve,  receive 
proud  recompense." 

"We  give  in  charge  their  names  to  the  sweet  lyre. 

The  historic  Muse,  proud  of  the  sacred  treasure, 
Marches  with  it  down  to  latest  times, 

And  Sculpture  in  her  turn  gives  bond  in  stone  and  ever-during 
brass, 

To  guard  and  to  immortalize  the  trust." 

No  complaint  ever  fell  from  Lee's  lips,  but  on 
more  than  one  occasion  he  declared,  "If  General 
Jackson  had  been  at  Gettysburg,  we  would  have 
won  a  great  victory." 

The  winter  of  '63  and  '64  was  passed  by  Gen- 
eral Lee  in  unremitting  efforts  to  strengthen  his 
army  for  the  dreadful  campaigns  to  ensue.  The 
Confederacy  had  been  cut  in  two  by  the  fall  of 


ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE  75 

Vicksburg.  The  presence  of  hostile  armies  in 
North  Georgia  had  restricted  the  resources  of  the 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia  practically  to  three 
States,  and  these  were  denuded  to  the  soil.  But 
scanty  supplies  could  be  forwarded,  for  the  con- 
dition of  the  railroads  and  rolling  stock  was  ir- 
remediable. Such  are  the  misfortunes  of  a  people 
without  mechanical  skill,  or  power.  All  of  the 
ports  were  now  tightly  blockaded  save  Wilming- 
ton, and  that  was  closed  with  the  fall  of  Fort 
Fisher.  Well  informed  men  everywhere,  and  es- 
peciallymilitarymen,  were  convinced  that  the  army 
of  Lee  could  not  endure  another  campaign.  The 
impossibility  of  feeding  his  men  overwhelmed  the 
General.  One  day  he  received  by  mail  an  anony- 
mous communication  from  a  private  soldier,  con- 
taining a  minute  and  meager  slice  of  salt  port 
carefully  packed  between  two  oak  chips.  With 
this  came  a  letter,  stating  that  this  was  the  daily 
ration  of  meat,  that  the  writer  could  not  live  on 
it,  and  though  a  gentleman,  was  reduced  by  the 
cravings  of  hunger  to  the  necessity  of  stealing. 
This  incident  gave  General  Lee  great  pain  and 
strong  remonstrances  were  addressed  to  the  com- 
missary department,  but  all  in  vain.  He  writes 
his  wife  that  "thousands  are  barefoot,  thousands 
with  fragments  of  shoes,  and  all  without  over- 
coats, blankets,  or  warm  clothing."  Of  a  move- 
ment he  was  compelled  to  abandon,  he  declares, 
"I  could  not  bear  to  expose  them  to  certain  suffer- 
ing on  an  uncertain  issue."  Doing  all  in  his  power 
to  alleviate  their  physical  sufferings,  he  does  not 
neglect  the  spiritual  welfare  of  his  men.  He  con- 
fers with  the  chaplains  and  attends  their  religious 
services.  More  than  once,  in  the  stress  of  a  swift 


76  ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE 

ride  to  the  front,  he  is  known  to  dismount  and  join 
in  the  simple  prayer  service  of  his  soldiers.  His 
headquarters  during  that  winter  are  in  a  plain 
army  tent  stationed  on  a  hillside  near  Orange 
Court  House.  He  shares  all  the  privations  of 
his  men,  and  writes  home  to  his  distressed  wife 
with  unabating  cheerfulness.  One  day  he  writes, 
"All  the  brides  have  come  on  a  visit  to  the  army, 
Mrs.  Ewell,  Mrs.  Walker,  Mrs.  Heth,  etc."  Gen- 
eral Ewell,  who  had  lost  one  of  his  legs  in  the 
campaign  of  '62,  had  been  married  in  a  romantic 
fashion.  "Virginia,"  said  a  contemporary,  "never 
had  a  truer  gentleman,  a  braver  soldier,  nor  an 
odder,  more  lovable  fellow."  He  was  very  ab- 
sent-minded. His  bride  had  been  a  widow,  a  Mrs. 
Brown,  and  he  would  with  great  formality  intro- 
duce her,  "Allow  me  to  present  my  wife,  Mrs. 
Brown." 

And  now  the  year  of  battle  was  at  hand.  The 
entire  military  power  of  the  Union  was  placed 
under  the  control  of  one  master  mind,  General 
U.  S.  Grant,  a  great  commander,  not  more  clear- 
sighted and  formidable  in  the  operations  of  war, 
against  his  enemy  with  arms  in  his  hands,  than 
gentle  and  magnanimous  to  that  enemy  in  honor- 
able defeat.  So  absolute  was  his  authority,  that 
on  April  30,  1864,  Mr.  Lincoln  wrote  him:  "The 
particulars  of  your  plans  I  neither  know  nor  seek 
to  know.  I  wish  not  to  obtrude  any  constraints  or 
restraints  upon  you."  Well  had  it  been  for  the 
hopes  of  the  Confederacy  had  similar  powers  been 
given  to  General  Lee.  This  was  finally  done,  but 
only  a  few  days  before  Appomattox. 

Lee  now  commands  sixty-two  thousand  men. 
There  are  present  with  Grant's  colors  one  hundred 


ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE  77 

and  eighteen  thousand.  These  deployed  in  double 
line  of  battle  would  cover  a  front  of  thirty  miles, 
and  overlap  Lee's  line  by  fourteen  miles.  Grant 
may  confront  Lee  with  equal  numbers,  and  at  the 
same  time  with  fifty-six  thousand  men  assail  him 
on  either  flank.  Nor  does  this  take  into  account 
the  enormous  reinforcements  which  the  Union 
General  is  constantly  receiving. 

On  the  5th  of  May  Grant  crosses  the  Rappa- 
hannock  and  the  Rapidan,  and  starts  with  his 
massy  columns  on  the  road  to  Richmond.  Soon 
his  thousands  are  entangled  in  the  Wilderness, 
and  Lee,  ever  audacious,  with  a  portion  of  his 
army  is  thundering  on  his  right  marching  flank. 
"It  is,"  said  a  biographer  of  General  Lee,  "a  ter- 
rible field  for  a  battle,  a  region  of  tangled  under- 
brush, ragged  foliage,  and  knotted  trunks.  You 
hear  the  saturnalia,  gloomy,  hideous,  desperate, 
raging  unconfined.  You  see  nothing,  and  the  very 
mystery  augments  the  horror;  from  out  the  depths 
comes  the  ruin  that  had  been  wrought,  in  bleeding 
shapes  borne  in  blankets  or  on  stretchers.  Soldiers 
fall,  writhe,  and  die  unseen,  their  bodies  lost  in 
the  bushes,  their  dying  groans  drowned  in  the 
steady,  continuous,  unceasing  crash."  Both  ar- 
mies fight  with  all  the  intrepid  courage  of  their 
heroic  line. 

With  great  sweep  to  the  left,  Grant  seeks  to 
reach  Spottsylvania  Court  House,  and  interpose 
between  Lee  and  Richmond,  but  when  he  reaches 
his  objective  the  riflemen  of  Lee  are  in  his 
path.  For  twelve  days  the  intrepid  army  of  the 
Union  reiterated  the  fierce  and  continued  assaults 
upon  the  thin  gray  line.  Occasionally  broken  by 
overpowering  numbers,  but  rallying  and  charging 


78  ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE 

anew  under  the  inspiring  presence  of  their  leader, 
these  heroes  in  rags  ever  hold  their  ground. 

At  half  past  four  on  the  morning  of  the  I2th  of 
May,  over  a  salient  on  General  Ewell's  works, 
that  gallant  Union  General  whom  Meade  termed 
"Hancock  the  superb"  rushed  a  storming  column, 
taking  many  Confederate  prisoners  and  twenty 
pieces  of  artillery.  The  line  was  untenable.  The 
engineering  eye  of  Lee  had  detected  this  defect, 
but  while  withdrawing  the  artillery  to  make  a  re- 
alignment, the  charging  columns  came.  The  mo- 
ment was  critical.  The  Confederate  army  was  cut 
in  two.  And,  determined  to  restore  his  line,  with 
the  fighting  blood  of  his  hero  strain  lighting  his 
face  with  the  glow  of  battle,  Lee,  mounted  on 
"Traveler,"  brave  as  his  master,  dashes  to  the 
front  of  the  charging  columns,  and  bares  that  good 
gray  head,  to  lead  his  men  into  the  death  hail 
sweeping  the  Bloody  Angle.  But  another  is  there ! 
In  civil  life  and  on  the  crest  of  battle  a  leader  of 
men,  daring,  magnetic,  eloquent,  a  hero  fighter 
while  the  war  is  on,  but  ever  afterwards  an  apostle 
of  peace  and  reconciliation,  who,  reflecting  glory 
upon  the  generation  he  survived,  crowned  with  all 
that  should  accompany  old  age,  idolized  by  every 
Southern  and  venerated  by  every  American  heart, 
to  the  last  "sustained  and  soothed  by  an  unfalter- 
ing trust,"  has  now  drawn 

"The  drapery  of  his  couch 
About  him,  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams," 

Lieutenant-General  John  B.  Gordon.  And  under 
the  wave  of  Gordon's  sword,  the  fearless  veterans 
advance.  The  Stars  and  Bars,  and  Stars  and 
Stripes,  are  in  actual  contact  across  the  blood- 


ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE  79 

stained  rampart.  The  driving  storms  of  rifle-balls 
gnaw  off  the  forest  trees,  which  crushing  fall  on 
friend  and  foe.  Drenched  with  rain,  covered  with 
clay,  and  blackened  with  powder,  the  opposing 
lines  desperately  fight.  Shells  bursting  from 
mortar  fire  rain  down  destruction,  storms  of  canis- 
ter sweep  the  parapets,  the  Minies  ceaselessly  hail 
across  the  appalling  scene.  The  dead  bodies  some- 
times four  deep  are  again  and  again  thrown  from 
the  trenches,  which  run  with  blood.  When  after 
twenty  hours  of  death  grapple,  through  sheer  ex- 
haustion, the  battle  fails,  unshaken  in  their  lines 
stand  the  heroes  in  gray,  and  Gordon's  pledge  to 
Lee  is  kept. 

Day  after  day  the  tragic,  piteous  story  is  the 
same.  On  the  North  Anna,  at  Cold  Harbor,  in 
many  an  unnamed  battle,  the  army  of  Grant  hurls 
itself  with  devoted  courage  against  the  swerveless 
constancy  of  Lee's  fierce  and  hungry  soldiery. 
Thousands  of  the  bravest  and  the  best  on  both 
sides  perish.  When  the  fight  is  over,  the  inanimate 
clay  is  in  the  trenches  laid,  and  the  slender  earth- 
works which  sheltered  the  living  turned  over  on 
the  silent  heroes,  whether  of  the  Blue  or  the  Gray, 
now  shelter  the  dead. 

Convinced  that  in  the  field  the  army  of  Lee  is 
unconquerable,  General  Grant  swiftly  transfers 
his  army  to  the  south  of  the  James.  He  intends  to 
surprise  Petersburg,  and  compel  the  evacuation 
of  Richmond.  But  Lee's  penetration  is  not  at 
fault.  The  slumbers  of  the  people  of  the  Con- 
federate Capital  are  disturbed  by  the  tramp  of 
marching  thousands.  It  is  the  tireless  quickstep 
of  Lee's  fighters  hastening  at  top  speed  to  find  their 
foe.  In  all  the  history  of  human  strife  never  was 


8o  ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE 

march  more  fateful.  The  steam  flotilla  and  the 
pontoon  bridges  of  General  Grant  had  given  his 
army  a  start  of  many  hours.  He  was  now  south 
of  the  James.  Petersburg,  gateway  to  the  Con- 
federate Capital,  was  almost  within  his  grasp. 
Lee's  army  was  north  of  the  river,  many  miles 
away.  The  most  untutored  of  all  those  desperate 
fighters  knew  the  danger  to  their  cause  as  well  as 
Lee  himself.  No  sound  in  those  fierce  ranks,  save 
the  clank  of  accoutrements,  the  tread  of  rushing 
thousands,  and  the  stern  commands  of  their  offi- 
cers. With  set  and  rigid  faces,  parched  throats, 
and  untiring  muscles,  onward,  ever  onward  press 
those  terrible  men  in  gray.  Not  in  vain  now,  the 
wind  and  training  of  years  of  furious  fighting,  hard 
marching,  and  slender  rations.  Not  in  vain 
through  their  great  hearts  streamed  the  hero 
blood,  flowing  down  from  far  distant  sires,  from 
sires  who  rolled  back  from  German  forests 
the  fierce  legions  of  Varus,  from  Saxons  who  had 
hurled  from  the  trenches  at  Hastings  the  mail- 
clad  warriors  of  the  Conqueror,  from  Crusaders 
who  had  "swarmed  up  the  breach  at  Ascalon," 
from  yeomanry  who  had  cloven  down  the  chivalry 
of  France  at  Agincourt  and  Poitiers,  from  ragged 
Continentals  who  had  won  American  independ- 
ence. And  so,  when  the  first  blush  of  dawn  breaks 
on  Petersburg,  the  last  stronghold  of  the  Confed- 
eracy, and  the  charging  columns  of  Grant  rush  to 
the  attack  to  brush  away  the  slender  force  of  vet- 
erans, home-guards,  and  convalescents,  who  stood 
them  off  the  night  before,  up  rose  from  the  trenches 
the  rebel  yell,  out  broke  the  riven  battle  flags, 
down  came  the  rifles  with  steady  aim,  and  forth 
blazed  the  withering  volleys,  which  told  the  Army 


ROBERT   EDWARD    LEE  81 

of  the  Potomac  that  the  men  of  Manassas,  Fred- 
ericksburg,  Antietam,  Chancellorsville,  the  Wild- 
erness, Spottsylvania,  and  Cold  Harbor  had  again 
arrived  in  time. 

As  predicted  by  General  Lee,  the  siege  of  Peters- 
burg is  but  a  question  of  days.  Held  by  a  mistaken 
policy  immovably  in  his  lines,  his  unequalled  pow- 
ers as  a  strategist  are  now  of  no  avail.  His  enemy 
finds  him  at  will.  His  bright  sword,  whose  light- 
ning play  for  so  long  has  parried  every  thrust,  and 
again  and  again  has  flashed  over  the  guard,  and 
disabled  his  foe,  now  held  fast  as  if  on  an  anvil, 
may  be  shattered  by  the  hammer  of  Grant.  His 
is  soon  a  phantom  army.  The  lean  and  hungry 
faces  seem  to  belong  to  shadows  without  bodies. 
The  winter  falls;  their  uniform  is  a  rude  patch- 
work of  rags.  On  those  rare  occasions  when  there 
are  cattle  to  kill,  the  green  hides  are  eagerly  seized, 
and  fashioned  into  rough  buskins  to  protect  bare 
and  bleeding  feet  from  the  stony  and  frozen 
ground.  Often  their  ration  is  a  little  parched 
corn,  sometimes  corn  on  the  cob.  Jocular  to  the 
last,  "Les  Miserables"  they  call  themselves,  ap- 
propriating, with  pronunciation  which  would  have 
startled  the  author,  the  title  of  Victor  Hugo's  fa- 
mous novel,  which,  reprinted  in  Richmond  on 
wrapping  paper,  affords  some  of  them  solace 
through  these  awful  days. 

"Day  and  night  for  months,"  writes  one  of 
Lee's  biographers,  "an  incessant  fire  without  one 
break  rained  down  upon  them  all  known  means 
of  destruction.  Their  constancy  during  those  dis- 
mal days  of  winter  never  failed.  Night  came; 
they  lay  down  in  their  trenches  where  cold  and  the 
enemy's  shells  left  them  no  repose.  Snow,  hail, 


82  ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE 

wind,  rain,  cannon-fire,  starvation  —  they  had  to 
bear  all  without  a  ray  of  hope."  Their  lines  stretch 
from  below  Richmond  on  the  north  side  of  the 
James,  to  Hatchers  Run  far  to  the  south  of  Peters- 
burg. In  front  of  them,  supplied  with  every  com- 
fort and  every  munition  of  war,  is  a  mighty,  brave, 
and  disciplined  army.  In  many  places  the  Federal 
and  Confederate  lines  are  not  a  dozen  yards  apart. 
Finally,  with  thirty-three  thousand  men,  Lee  is 
holding  forty  miles  of  trenches;  and  every  night 
his  men  unroll  their  thin  blankets,  and  unloose 
their  shoe-strings  with  deep  forebodings  of  what 
the  morrow  may  bring.  Officers  and  men  know 
that  the  end  is  at  hand,  but  their  desperate  courage 
never  falters;  and  when  at  last  the  powerful  army 
of  Sheridan  is  detached  to  assail  his  right  flank, 
and  Lee  is  compelled  to  withdraw  the  infantry 
from  his  line  to  meet  this  movement,  in  the  absence 
of  defenders,  Grant,  as  if  on  parade,  though  with 
dreadful  loss,  marches  over  the  Confederate 
lines;  Richmond  falls,  and  after  a  brief  interval 
of  heroic  unavailing  strife,  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia  is  annihilated.  The  fearless  remnant  of 
the  worn  and  wasted  veterans,  surrounded  at  Ap- 
pomattox  by  ten  times  their  number,  without  a 
word  of  unkindness  from  their  brave  foemen, 
whom  they  had  so  often  defeated,  so  long  held  at 
bay,  with  all  the  honors  of  war,  surrender  their 
battle-riven  standards. 

Then  came  that  ever  to  be  remembered  scene, 
when  his  loving  veterans  gather  at  the  side  of  their 
General,  press  his  hands,  touch  his  clothing,  and 
caress  his  horse.  In  simple,  manly  words,  he  said : 
"Men,  we  have  fought  through  the  war  together. 
I  have  done  my  best  for  you.  My  heart  is  too  full 


ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE  83 

to  say  more."  And  then  came  the  last  order  to 
the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  read  through 
tears  which  wash  the  grime  of  battle  from  the  vet- 
eran's face;  not  tears  of  anger  or  humiliation,  but 
tears  of  sympathy  for  him,  of  exultation  and  pride 
for  the  martial  honor  even  for  the  humblest  private, 
his  leadership  had  won;  honor  preserved  to  them 
with  arms  in  their  hands,  by  the  terms  of  the  sur- 
render; the  proudest  heritage  to  the  latest  times 
of  all  the  generations  of  that  hero  strain.  Aye, 
more,  a  heritage  of  valor  and  potency,  now  and 
forever  at  the  command  of  our  reunited  land, 
which  the  powers  of  earth  may  well  heed  in  all  the 
contingencies  threatening  to  our  safety  the  future 
may  have  in  store. 

And  came  then  that  sad  autumnal  day,  so  many 
years  ago,  yet  so  near  to  us  who  wore  the  gray,  as, 
standing  with  wife  and  loved  ones,  to  invoke  on  his 
frugal  table  the  blessing  of  the  Master  he  loved 
and  served,  he  sank  to  rise  no  more.  Oh,  what 
then  did  foe  and  friend  say  of  Lee?  Much  was 
said,  but  all  was  said  by  one,  in  the  words  of  the 
Arthurian  legend: 

"Ah,  Sir  Lancelot,  there  thou  liest.  Thou  wert 
head  of  all  Christian  knights,  and  now,  I  dare  say, 
thou  wert  the  courtliest  knight  that  ever  bare 
shield  *  *  *  and  thou  wert  the  kindest  man 
that  ever  strake  with  sword;  and  thou  wert  the 
goodliest  person  that  ever  came  among  press  of 
knights;  and  thou  wert  the  meekest  man  and  the 
gentlest  that  ever  ate  in  hall  among  ladies;  and 
thou  wert.  the  sternest  knight  to  thy  mortal  foe 
that  ever  put  spear  in  rest." 

Deny  him  a  place  by  Washington?  Ah,  is  it 
sure,  if  in  the  awful  hour  when  hostile  armies 


84  ROBERT   EDWARD    LEE 

approached  Virginia's  soil,  the  winds  of  the 
Prophet  had  breathed  upon  the  dead  that  they 
might  live,  caught  from  the  wall  at  Mount  Vernon 
by  his  reincarnated  hand,  the  defensive  blade  of 
Washington  would  not  have  gleamed  beside  the 
sword  of  Lee?  Repel  not  then,  my  country,  the 
fervid  love  of  thy  sons  who  fought  with  Lee,  and 
of  their  sons.  Their  prowess  thou  hast  seen:  on 
the  hills  of  Santiago,  on  the  waters  of  Luzon.  The 
flowers  of  Spring  thy  equal  hand  wilt  henceforth 
strew  on  graves  of  all  thy  hero  dead.  Repel  not 
then  his  blameless  name  from  thy  Immortals' 
scroll.  And  in  thy  need,  on  those  who  love  him 
thou  wilt  not  call  in  vain. 


FACING    PACE   85 


ULYSSES  S.  GRANT* 

Mr.  President  and  Fellow  Citizens: 

I  am  sensible  of  my  high  privilege  in  the  oppor- 
tunity to  come  from  my  distant  Southern  home  to 
take  part  in  these  memorial  exercises  in  honor  of 
the  great  American  whose  natal  day  we  celebrate. 
Of  the  illustrious  man  himself  you  require  no  in- 
formation. You  are  familiar  with  the  incidents  of 
his  youth,  and  with  his  gallantry  and  devotion  to 
duty  as  a  young  officer  in  the  famous  little  army 
of  our  country  at  Monterey,  Cerro  Gordo,  Cha- 
pultepec,  Molino  del  Rey,  and  other  victories 
which  culminated  when  the  stars  and  stripes 
streamed  above  the  city  of  Montezurna.  You  who 
were  his  neighbors  know  his  Spartan  simplicity 
and  modest  bearing,  before  glory  marked  him  as 
her  own.  You  who  were  his  comrades  rejoice  in 
your  recollections  of  his  indomitable  courage,  his 
fertility  of  resource,  his  marvelous  military  intui- 
tions, the  broad  comprehensiveness  of  his  strategy 
and  the  dynamic  energy  with  which  he  reiterated 
blow  upon  blow  until  his  campaigns  were  crowned 
with  victory.  And  thousands  who  now  claim  with 
pride  the  honor  of  being  his  countrymen,  but  who 
fought  him  with  unflinching  but  unavailing  valor 
at  Donelson,  Shiloh,  Vicksburg,  Chattanooga,  and 
from  the  Wilderness  to  Appomattox,  cherish  with 

*Delivered  at  the  invitation  of  the  Grant  Birthday  Associa- 
tion of  Galena,  Illinois,  in  that  city,  on  General  Grant's  seventy- 
seventh  birthday,  April  27,  1898. 

85 


86  ULYSSES    S.    GRANT 

grateful  remembrance  his  generosity  to  the  con- 
quered in  the  hour  of  his  triumph.  Indeed,  to 
him  more  justly  than  to  Marlborough  we  may  all 
apply  the  lines  of  Addison : 

"Unbounded  courage  and  compassion  joined, 
Tempered  each  other  in  the  victor's  mind, 
Alternately  proclaim  him  good  and  great, 
And  make  the  hero  and  the  man  complete." 

While  we  indulge  the  national  pride,  now  the 
common  heritage  of  our  reunited  country,  in  the  as- 
tonishing renown,  achieved  in  a  period  incredibly 
brief  by  this  unpretentious  citizen  of  historic 
Galena,  it  may  be  well  for  us  to  contemplate  the 
mighty  issue  for  which  he  fought,  and  reverently 
inquire  if  the  soul  of  the  hero  patriot  was  not 
animated  and  impelled  by  a  power  beyond  the  com- 
pass of  finite  intelligence.  The  providence  of  God, 
we  may  believe,  has  been  often  beneficently  shown 
in  seasons  of  great  emergency,  by  the  phenomenal 
development  of  men  of  preeminent  power,  men 
whose  moral  and  mental  forces  seemed  designed 
by  the  Creator  to  meet  and  to  supply  to  the  utter- 
most exigencies  of  the  nation  and  of  civilization. 
Such  a  man  was  David,  the  greatest  king  of  Israel. 
A  thousand  years  before  the  coming  of  the 
Saviour,  when  the  ancient  people  of  God  were  torn 
by  internal  dissensions,  and  their  national  existence 
threatened  by  hostile  neighbors,  this  great  He- 
brew, displaying  in  his  own  person  the  noblest 
attributes  of  his  race,  obliterated  tribal  jealousies, 
consolidated  the  nation,  extended  its  dominions 
from  the  mountains  "round  about  Jerusalem"  to 
theOrontes  and  the  Euphrates,  and  perpetuated  his 
martial  and  civic  victories  in  immortal  strains  of 


ULYSSES    S.    GRANT  87 

triumph  and  adoration  to  Jehovah.  Such  was 
Cromwell.  Unlike  David,  no  prophetic  hand  had 
imprinted  the  seal  of  divinity  upon  his  brow,  but 
the  words  of  his  mother's  blessing,  in  her  ninetieth 
year,  gave  evidence  that  she  foresaw  his  mighty 
services  to  liberty  and  to  man.  With  the  myste- 
rious foreknowledge  of  the  dying,  the  noble 
woman  uttered  this  touching  benediction:  "The 
Lord  cause  his  face  to  shine  upon  you  and  comfort 
you  in  all  your  adversities,  and  enable  you  to  do 
great  things  for  the  glory  of  your  most  high  God, 
and  be  a  relief  unto  His  people.  My  dear  son,  I 
leave  my  heart  with  thee.  A  good  night." 

How  the  mother's  prayer  was  granted,  some  of 
the  brightest  pages  in  the  annals  of  our  race  re- 
cord. Her  fleeting  senses  must  have  caught  the 
future  accents  of  that  imperial  voice  which,  in  the 
words  of  Macaulay,  "arrested  the  sails  of  the 
Lybian  pirates  and  the  persecuting  fires  of  Rome." 
She  must  have  heard  the  thunderous  hoofs  of  his 
Ironsides  as  they  charged  through  Rupert's  squad- 
rons on  Marston  Moor  and  made  them  "as  stubble 
to  his  swords,"  and  as  the  morning  sun  shown  on 
the  steel-clad  lines  at  Dunbar,  the  shout  of  the 
patriot,  "Let  God  arise,  let  his  enemies  be  scat- 
tered!" 

Such  a  man  was  Washington,  father  of  his  coun- 
try. But  for  his  incomparable  fortitude,  perse- 
verance, reserve,  resourcefulness,  heroism,  and 
honor,  that  country  had  not  been,  and  undoubted 
as  were  the  military  merits  of  the  patriot  com- 
mander, his  chief  title  to  the  love  and  veneration 
of  his  countrymen  springs  from  his  labors  to  create 
the  Union,  the  salvation  of  which  in  its  darkest 
hour  is  mainly  ascribable  to  the  fixedness  of  will, 


88  ULYSSES    S.    GRANT 

the  perfectness  of  judgment,  the  rectitude  of  in- 
tention, the  comprehension  of  mighty  movements, 
the  intrepid  mind  and  dauntless  courage  accorded 
by  the  providence  of  God  to  Ulysses  S.  Grant. 

The  War  for  Independence,  which  made  the 
Union  possible,  was  fought  without  a  government. 
It  is  probably  true  that  its  seven  years  would  not 
have  been  seven  months,  before  the  final  discom- 
fiture of  the  British,  if  Patrick  Henry's  three  mil- 
lions, "armed  in  the  holy  cause  of  liberty,"  had 
been  controlled  by  the  Constitution  as  it  exists  to- 
day. Government  without  law,  or  without  power 
which  is  a  law  unto  itself,  is  impossible.  The  pa- 
triots had  neither.  It  is  true  that  they  had  the 
Continental  Congress,  which  described  itself  as 
"The  Delegates  Appointed  by  the  Good  People 
of  These  Colonies."  This  body  deserved  the 
eulogium  of  Chatham  who  declared  it  to  be  "the 
most  honorable  assembly  of  statesmen  since  those 
of  the  ancient  Greeks  and  Romans  in  the  most 
virtuous  times."  This  Congress  adopted  the  Dec- 
laration of  Independence,  which  was  termed  "The 
Declaration  of  the  Representatives  of  the  United 
States  of  America  in  Congress  Assembled."  It 
is  true  that  this  declaration  recited  that,  as  free 
and  independent  States,  "they  have  full  power  to 
levy  war,  conclude  peace,  contract  alliances,  es- 
tablish commerce,  and  to  do  all  other  acts  and 
things  which  independent  States  may  of  right  do." 
But  it  is  also  true  that  there  was  neither  law  nor 
authority  by  which  the  Congress  could  compel  the 
obedience  of  the  people,  or  make  effective  the  lofty 
purposes  of  that  noble  instrument.  Benjamin 
Franklin,  with  that  sagacity  of  which  his  name 
will  be  always  proverbial,  nearly  a  year  before  the 


ULYSSES    S.    GRANT  89 

Declaration,  had  placed  his  unerring  finger  on  that 
weak  spot  of  our  economy.  Long  the  advocate  of 
a  union  between  the  colonies,  this  great  man  now 
submitted  a  draft  of  a  proposed  union  which 
should  last  until  reconciliation  with  the  mother 
country,  and  if  reconciliation  could  not  be,  then 
for  a  perpetual  union.  But  Franklin's  plan  was 
ignored.  It  is,  however,  true  that  on  the  nth 
day  of  June,  1776,  when  the  Continental  Congress 
appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  it  provided  for  another  com- 
mittee to  prepare  and  digest  a  form  of  confedera- 
tion. The  report  of  this  committee  was  not  ap- 
proved by  Congress  until  the  i5th  day  of  Novem- 
ber, 1777.  It  was  not  adopted  by  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  the  States  until  the  ist  day  of  March,  1781, 
but  seven  months  and  nineteen  days  before  the 
surrender  of  Lord  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown.  In 
the  mean  time  it  had  seemed,  that  notwithstanding 
the  extraordinary  exertions  of  Washington,  the 
cause  of  the  patriots  would  perish.  Without  credit, 
with  no  power  to  collect  taxes,  or  enforce  requisi- 
tions, with  one  hundred  and  six  millions  of  Conti- 
nental dollars  in  circulation,  at  the  beginning  of 
1779,  it  was  said  that  a  wagon  load  of  money 
would  scarcely  buy  a  wagon  load  of  provisions. 
In  April  of  that  year  the  Continental  dollar  was 
worth  five  cents.  At  the  end  of  the  year  it  was 
worth  less  than  two  and  a  half  cents. 

Then  perhaps  may  have  been  heard  for  the  first 
time  the  expression  "Not  worth  a  continental," 
profanely  enlarged,  when,  pursuant  to  law,  the 
Latin  "Damnatus  Est"  was  stamped  on  Continen- 
tal bills.  The  soldiers  at  the  front  saw  clearly  the 
difficulty,  as  soldiers  ever  do.  They  saw  how  value- 


90  ULYSSES    S.    GRANT 

less  for  government  was  a  voluntary  association  of 
sovereign  and  uncontrollable  communities,  and 
among  the  ragged  Continentals,  as  they  shivered  in 
their  cantonments  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  the 
commonest  toast,  after  the  fashion  of  that  day, 
was,  "Here's  a  hoop  to  the  barrel." 

The  situation  of  the  country  was  indeed  a  re- 
proach to  the  American  character.  Congress  and 
particular  States  were  appealing  to  France  for 
loans  when,  man  for  man,  the  American  people 
were  richer  than  the  subjects  of  the  French  king. 
The  soldiers  were  starving.  They  had  not  been 
paid  for  five  months.  "Nothing  prevented  them 
from  going  to  their  homes,"  writes  a  contem- 
porary, "save  the  influence  of  the  Commander-in- 
Chief,  whom  they  almost  adore."  And  of  Wash- 
ington, General  Greene  wrote  privately:  "The 
great  man  is  confounded  at  his  situation  and  ap- 
pears to  be  reserved  and  silent.  Should  there  be 
a  want  of  provisions,  we  cannot  hold  together 
many  days  in  the  present  temper  of  the  army." 
Washington  himself  wrote :  "Certain  I  am,  unless 
Congress  are  invested  with  powers  by  the  several 
States  competent  to  the  great  purposes  of  war,  or 
assume  them  as  matter  of  right,  and  they  and  the 
States  respectively  act  with  more  energy  than  they 
have  hitherto  done,  our  cause  is  lost.  We  can  no 
longer  drudge  on  in  the  old  way.  By  ill-timing  in 
the  adoption  of  measures,  we  incur  enormous  ex- 
pense and  derive  no  benefit  from  them.  One  State 
will  comply  with  a  requisition  of  Congress;  an- 
other neglects  to  do  it ;  a  third  executes  it  by  halves ; 
and  all  differ  either  in  the  manner,  the  matter,  or 
so  much  in  point  of  time,  that  we  are  always  work- 
ing up  hill.  While  such  a  system  as  the  present 


ULYSSES    S.    GRANT  91 

one,  or  want  of  one,  prevails,  we  shall  ever  be  un- 
able to  apply  our  strength  or  resources  to  any 
advantage." 

The  chivalric  LaFayette,  writing  home  to  his 
wife,  declared :  "No  European  army  would  suffer 
one-tenth  part  of  what  the  American  troops  suffer. 
It  takes  citizens  to  support  hunger,  nakedness,  toil, 
and  a  total  want  of  pay  which  constitutes  the  con- 
dition of  our  soldiers,  the  most  patient  that  are 
to  be  found  in  the  world." 

These  were  the  conditions  when  the  Articles  of 
Confederation  which  had  been  proposed  in  1776 
were  adopted  by  the  last  of  the  thirteen  States. 
Our  fathers  now  had  a  compact  of  thirteen  truly 
sovereign  States.  It  was  termed  "a  perpetual 
union,"  but  it  was  soon  discovered  to  be  a  union 
only  in  name.  It  was  otherwise  termed  "a  firm 
league  of  friendship,"  but  the  attribute  of  firmness 
was  illusory,  and  the  friendship  inconstant  and 
deceptive. 

A  contemporary  writer  in  the  American  Muse- 
um, whose  name  I  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain, 
portrays  with  swift  strokes  this  offspring  of  "State 
Sovereignty  run  mad."  "By  this  social  compact," 
he  wrote,  "the  United  States  in  Congress  have  ex- 
clusive power  for  the  following  purposes,  with- 
out being  able  to  execute  any  of  them:  They  may 
make  and  conclude  treaties,  but  can  only  recom- 
mend the  observance  of  them.  They  may  appoint 
ambassadors,  but  can  not  defray  even  the  ex- 
pense of  their  tables.  They  may  borrow  money 
in  their  own  name  on  the  faith  of  the  Union,  but 
cannot  pay  a  dollar.  They  may  coin  money,  but 
they  cannot  purchase  an  ounce  of  bullion.  They 
may  make  war,  and  determine  what  number  of 


92  ULYSSES    S.    GRANT 

troops  are  necessary,  but  cannot  raise  a  single  sol- 
dier. In  short,  they  may  declare  everything,  but 
do  nothing." 

Despite  the  debility  and  worthlessness  of  the  Ar- 
ticles of  Confederation,  Washington,  on  the  eighth 
anniversary  of  the  Lexington  fight,  was  enabled  to 
announce  to  his  brave  but  neglected  army  the  im- 
mediate prospect  of  certain  peace.  This  was  de- 
clared on  the  3d  of  September,  1785,  and  it  is  in- 
teresting to  note  that  Great  Britain  refused  to  rec- 
ognize the  independence  of  the  United  States,  but 
in  the  treaty  itself  recognized  the  independence 
of  each  of  the  States,  naming  them.  It  may  be 
that  the  British  diplomats,  with  an  eye  to  the  fu- 
ture, recalled  the  fable  in  Aesop,  in  which  we  are 
told  how  the  woodsman,  who  could  not  break  the 
fagots  when  bound  together,  found  it  an  easy  task 
to  break  the  separate  twigs.  This  was  indeed  in 
consonance  with  the  policy  of  the  European  pow- 
ers. Vergennes,  the  minister  of  our  ally,  the 
French  king,  had  informed  his  representative  in 
Philadelphia  that  the  United  States  would  never 
have  real  and  respectable  strength  except  by  their 
unity.  With  sinister  diplomacy,  he  continued: 
"But  it  is  for  themselves  alone  to  make  these  re- 
flections. We  have  no  right  to  present  them  for 
their  consideration,  and  we  have  no  interest  what- 
ever to  see  America  play  the  part  of  a  power 
*  *  *  Nothing  can  be  more  conformable  to 
our  political  interest  than  separate  acts  by  which 
each  State  shall  ratify  the  treaties  concluded  with 
France." 

Despite  the  victory  of  our  armies,  at  no  period 
of  our  history  did  the  future  seem  more  hopeless. 
Afterwards  Washington  declared,  "It  was  for  a 


ULYSSES    S.    GRANT  93 

long  time  doubtful  whether  we  were  to  survive  as 
an  independent  republic,  or  decline  from  our  Fed- 
eral dignity  into  insignificant  withered  fragments 
of  empire."  Thetruthof  this  declaration  was  patent 
at  the  time  to  every  patriot.  New  Jersey  had  flatly 
refusedtopay  her  quota  for  the  support  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. Georgia  was  proceeding  to  open  inde- 
pendent negotiations  for  a  treaty  with  the  Spanish 
governor  at  New  Orleans.  The  individual  States 
began  to  disintegrate.  The  people  of  the  western 
portion  of  North  Carolina,  now  Tennessee,  and 
the  border  counties  of  Virginia  west  of  the  Blue 
Ridge  began  to  organize  the  new  State  of  Frank- 
land.  About  the  same  time  one  Daniel  Shay,  an 
ex-captain  of  the  Continental  Army,  organized  a 
rebellion  in  Massachusetts,  which  was  strong 
enough  to  defy  the  officers  of  the  law,  and  was 
not  overawed  until  the  militia  of  the  State  were 
called  out.  "What,  gracious  God,  is  man,"  ex- 
claimed Washington,  "that  there  should  be  such 
inconsistency  and  perfidiousness  in  his  conduct? 
It  was  but  the  other  day  that  we  were  shedding  our 
blood  to  obtain  the  constitutions  under  which  we 
now  live,  constitutions  of  our  own  choice  and  mak- 
ing, and  now  we  are  unsheathing  the  sword  to 
overturn  them."  The  moral  status  of  the  country 
was  as  disheartening  as  its  political  condition.  This 
period  of  practical  separation  between  the  States 
has  been  described  by  a  gifted  American  writer  of 
recent  times  as  a  season  of  "faction,  jealousy  and 
discord,  infirmity  of  purpose,  feebleness  in  action, 
unblushing  dishonesty  in  finance,  black  ingratitude 
against  the  army,  and  the  rapid  acquisition  of  an 
ever-growing  contempt  on  the  part  of  the  rest  of 
mankind." 


94  ULYSSES    S.    GRANT 

Then  it  was  that  Washington  and  his  noble 
compatriots  determined  that  the  Union  should  be 
created.  He  knew  that  by  those  envious  natures 
who  "hate  the  excellence  they  cannot  reach"  he 
would  be  suspected  of  designing  his  own  advance- 
ment, but  the  lofty  soul  of  Washington  could  not 
be  moved  by  unworthy  considerations.  Jefferson, 
Wythe,  and  Pendleton  were  engaged  at  this  time 
in  codifying  the  laws  of  his  State,  and  to  these 
great  Virginians  Washington  wrote  his  sense  of 
the  country's  opportunity  and  of  its  danger.  "The 
present  temper  of  the  States,"  he  declared,  "is 
friendly  to  the  establishment  of  a  lasting  Union; 
the  moment  should  be  improved;  if  suffered  to 
pass  away,  it  may  fall  a  prey  to  our  own  follies 
and  disputes."  He  continues,  "It  would  give  me 
great  concern,  should  it  be  thought  of  me  that  I 
am  desirous  of  enlarging  the  powers  of  Congress 
unnecessarily,  as  I  declare  to  God  my  only  aim  is 
the  general  good." 

How  the  serene  wisdom  of  this  great  man  util- 
ized and  directed  the  constructive  genius  and  fer- 
vid energy  of  Hamilton,  the  clear-sighted  and 
effective  patriotism  of  Madison,  the  broad  juridical 
learning  of  Jay,  is  familiar  history.  But  so  quietly 
was  his  commanding  influence  exerted,  that  he  was 
termed  the  "silent  watchman."  Finally  the  con- 
vention was  called  for  Annapolis  for  September 
17,  1786,  but  only  twelve  delegates  assembled. 
No  State  south  of  Virginia  and  no  State  in  New 
England  sent  delegates.  In  no  wise  disheartened, 
the  friends  of  the  Union  called  another  convention 
to  be  held  at  Philadelphia  on  the  i4th  of  the  fol- 
lowing May.  All  was  now  activity.  Hamilton 
issued  a  persuasive  and  eloquent  address.  The 


ULYSSES    S.    GRANT  95 

time  for  the  convention  was  now  at  hand,  and, 
writes  a  historian  of  those  times,  "When  Virginia 
displayed  the  gilded  roll  of  her  delegates  and 
showed  the  patriot  commander  at  the  head  of  the 
list,  the  whole  country  thrilled  with  joy." 

The  chairman  of  the  Pennsylvania  delegation 
was  Benjamin  Franklin,  of  whom  it  was  said  that 
his  defection  from  King  George  had  given  that 
monarch  more  concern  than  that  of  any  other  sub- 
ject; whose  homely  but  charming  philosophy  had 
been  as  captivating  to  the  beauties  of  the  French 
court  as  to  the  savants  of  the  Academy,  and  who, 
when  more  than  eighty  years  of  age,  was  declared 
to  be  "an  ornament  to  human  nature."  Many  of 
the  older  patriots  of  the  Revolution  were  there. 
How  it  should  thrill  the  true  American,  when  he 
reflects  that  on  motion  of  Benjamin  Franklin, 
George  Washington  was  called  to  the  chair. 
There,  too,  sat  Roger  Sherman  of  Connecti- 
cut, the  grandfather  of  those  illustrious  Amer- 
ican statesmen  and  jurists,  George  F.  Hoar  and 
William  M.  Evarts.  There  too  was  James  Madi- 
son, who  brought  to  the  mighty  task  that  untiring 
industry,  exquisite  discretion,  and  masterful  power, 
which  made  him  twice  the  President  of  the  Union 
he  was  laboring  to  create.  It  is  animating  to  the 
patriot  to  reflect  that  the  longest  lived  of  the  Con- 
vention, surviving  to  those  days  when  partisan 
rage  sought  to  nullify  the  acts  of  Congress,  his  last 
message  to  his  countrymen,  bedewed  with  the  tears 
of  the  aged  statesman,  besought  obedience  to  the 
laws  of  the  Union  in  whose  formation  he  had  taken 
an  immortal  part.  There  also  was  that  marvelous 
young  man,  of  whom  Webster  proclaimed:  "He 
smote  the  rock  of  the  national  resources,  and 


96  ULYSSES    S.    GRANT 

abundant  streams  of  revenue  gushed  forth.  He 
touched  the  dead  corpse  of  the  public  credit,  and  it 
sprung  upon  its  feet.  The  fabled  birth  of  Minerva 
from  the  brain  of  Jove  was  hardly  more  sudden 
or  more  perfect  than  that  of  the  financial  system 
of  the  United  States  from  the  conceptions  of  Alex- 
ander Hamilton."  Indeed,  there  was  scarcely  a 
man  there  whose  name  is  not  enshrined  in  the 
memory  of  his  State,  and  many  whose  fame  will  be 
coextensive  with  American  history  itself.  Some  of 
the  members  had  joined  in  the  indignant  resolu- 
tionsof  the  Stamp  Act  Congress  of  1765.  Some  had 
signed  the  fearless  Declaration  of  Rights  in  1774. 
Four  had  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
elevenyearsbefore.  Many  were  brilliant  patriots  of 
'76,  who  had  proved  their  devotion  to  free  gov- 
ernment by  their  heroism  in  the  Continental  line. 
Eighteen  belonged  to  that  greatest  of  all  Revolu- 
tionary bodies,  the  Continental  Congress.  Two 
had  become  Presidents  of  that  body.  Seven  had 
been  or  were  Governors  of  States.  Twenty-eight 
had  been  members  of  Congress.  And  of  the  Presi- 
dent, years  thereafter,  the  father  of  our  own  Rob- 
ert Edward  Lee  first  uttered  the  immortal  senti- 
ment, "First  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and  first  in  the 
hearts  of  his  countrymen." 

Every  clause  of  the  great  instrument  was  mi- 
nutely considered  by  them,  deeply  pondered,  and 
debated  with  acumen  and  power.  With  such  men 
divided  opinions  were  inevitable.  At  one  time  it 
seemed  that  agreement  was  impossible.  The  dread 
of  the  changeful  multitude  threatened  to  paralyze 
all  action,  when  Washington  arose  and  uttered 
those  memorable  words  which  an  eminent  writer 
has  declared  "ought  to  be  blazoned  in  letters  of 


ULYSSES    S.    GRANT  97 

gold,  and  posted  on  the  wall  of  every  American 
assembly  that  shall  meet  to  nominate  a  candidate, 
or  declare  a  policy,  or  pass  a  law,  so  long  as  the 
weakness  of  human  nature  shall  endure."  "It  is 
too  probable,"  said  the  patriot  sage,  "that  no  plan 
we  propose  will  be  adopted.  Perhaps  another 
dreadful  conflict  is  yet  to  be  sustained.  If  to 
please  the  people  we  offer  what  we  ourselves  dis- 
approve, how  can  we  afterwards  defend  our  work. 
Let  us  raise  a  standard  to  which  the  wise  and  hon- 
est repair.  The  event  is  in  the  hand  of  God." 

At  last  the  work  was  finished.  The  Father  of 
his  Country  was  the  first  to  sign,  and  it  is  related 
that  while  the  last  members  were  appending  their 
signatures  to  this  Maxima  Charta  of  human  lib- 
erty, the  venerable  Franklin,  looking  toward  the 
President's  chair,  upon  the  back  of  which  was 
painted  a  half  sun,  remarked  to  those  standing 
near  him  that  painters  found  it  difficult  in  their 
art  to  distinguish  between  a  rising  and  a  setting 
sun,  and  then  with  deep  feeling  he  added :  "Often 
and  often  in  the  course  of  this  session  and  in  the 
vicissitudes  of  my  hopes  and  fears  as  to  the  issue, 
I  have  looked  at  that  behind  the  President  with- 
out being  able  to  tell  whether  it  was  rising  or  set- 
ting, but  now  I  have  the  happiness  to  know  it  is  a 
rising  and  not  a  setting  sun."  Oh,  my  country- 
men, what  benign  and  prophetic  truth  was  this! 
The  Constitution  was  soon  to  be  adopted  by  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  with  its  preamble  to 
the  plan  of  our  national  salvation :  "We,  the  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a  more 
perfect  Union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic 
tranquillity,  provide  for  the  common  defense,  pro- 
mote the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings 


98  ULYSSES    S.    GRANT 

of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity,  do  ordain 
and  establish  this  Constitution  for  the  United 
States  of  America." 

With  what  abounding  fruition  of  individual  hap- 
piness and  national  power  have  these  lofty 
purposes  been  accomplished!  The  more  perfect 
Union  has  endured  for  more  than  a  century.  From 
its  flaming  defences,  the  fierce  assaults  of  foreign 
foes  have  recoiled  in  disaster  and  dismay.  Its 
foundations,  assailed  by  the  telluric  shocks  of  the 
mightiest  of  all  revolutions,  were  found  immov- 
able. Imperishable  it  stands;  the  rock  of  our 
safety  and  comfort;  to  the  toiling  millions,  the 
sure  defence,  the  life-giving  shelter  of  freedom 
and  of  hope, — 

"As  some  tall  cliff  that  lifts  its  awful  form, 
Swells  from  the  vale,  and  midway  leaves  the  storm, — 
Though  round  its  breast  the  rolling  clouds  are  spread, 
Eternal  sunshine  settles  on  its  head." 

And  the  Constitution  has  established  justice. 
The  citizens  of  every  State  have  been  afforded 
tribunals  in  every  State  where  without  regard  to 
local  prejudice  their  rights  may  be  ascertained  and 
enforced.  In  those  courts  the  citizens  of  foreign 
lands  have  equal  rights  with  our  own  people.  They 
have  jurisdiction  to  enforce  personal  rights  and  the 
rights  accorded  by  treaty.  Every  salutary  principle 
of  Magna  Charta,  every  safeguard  of  liberty 
achieved  by  the  English-speaking  race,  as  "free- 
dom broadens  slowly  down  from  precedent  to 
precedent,"  is  by  the  Constitution  impregnably  es- 
tablished in  the  jurisprudence  of  our  country.  Jus- 
tice is  established  even  against  the  action  of  the 
States,  aye  and  of  the  United  States.  However 


ULYSSES    S.    GRANT  99 

furious  may  be  the  local  outcry,  no  State  can  pass 
any  law  violating  the  obligations  of  a  contract,  or 
by  suspending  remedies  delay  the  creditor  in  the 
just  assertion  of  his  claim.  Nor  may  a  debt  be 
discharged  at  the  will  of  the  debtor,  or  by  the 
misguided  action  of  a  State,  in  depreciated  cur- 
rency. The  money  of  the  Union  is  essential  for 
the  discharge  of  every  obligation,  and  the  money 
of  the  Union  is  good  the  world  around. 

And  in  our  country  alone  are  the  principles  of 
constitutional  justice  established  as  superior  to  the 
expressed  will  of  sovereignty  itself.  The  highest 
court  in  England  may  not  impugn  the  effectiveness 
and  force  of  an  act  of  Parliament,  however  abhor- 
rent it  may  be  to  liberty  and  right;  but  neither 
the  government  of  a  State,  nor  of  the  United 
States,  even  by  unanimous  vote  and  with  the  ap- 
proval of  the  Executive,  can  deprive  the  hum- 
blest citizen  of  the  land  of  a  constitutional 
right  secured  to  him  by  that  Union,  which  alone 
among  the  governments  of  the  earth,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  a  great  American  jurist,  "extends  the 
judicial  protection  of  personal  rights  not  only 
against  the  rulers  of  the  people,  but  against  the 
representatives  of  the  people."  And  it  has  es- 
tablished justice  for  the  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the 
Republic.  Never  to  the  patriot,  however  humble, 
who  on  the  fiery  crest  of  battle  has  braved  the 
death  hail  in  defence  of  the  flag,  shall  come  the 
hovel  of  the  pauper,  and  the  potter's  field. 

And  our  Union  has  insured  domestic  tranquillity. 
One  soldier  is  found  sufficient  to  maintain  the  tran- 
quillity of  twenty-eight  hundred  American  citizens, 
with  abundant  leisure  to  look  after  the  Indian 
tribes  and  perform  all  of  the  ornamental  functions 


ioo  ULYSSES    S.    GRANT 

obligatory  upon  the  brave  defenders  of  our  coun- 
try. 

And  need  I  argue  in  the  presence  of  recent 
events  that  the  Constitution  of  the  Union  is  ample 
to  provide  for  the  common  defence?  Now,  while 
the  world  is  astounded  at  the  gigantic  forces  which 
our  country  is  wielding  by  day  and  by  night  in  a 
thousand  arsenals,  ship  yards,  forges,  factories, 
and  foundries,  to  maintain  unsullied  the  honor  of 
the  stars  and  stripes.  Now,  while  the  pictured  dome 
of  the  Capitol  is  ringing  with  the  acclamations  of 
our  representatives  as  they  vote  millions  for  the 
common  defence.  The  colossal  military  power  of 
this  country  is  beyond  estimation.  It  does  not  re- 
side alone  in  those  majestic  squadrons,  "still  as 
the  breeze  and  awful  as  the  storm,"  which  patrol 
the  coast  or  ride  at  anchor  on  the  tepid  wave  of 
the  tropics,  nor  in  the  Regular  Army,  gallant  and 
skilful  as  it  is,  but  in  the  stalwart  arms  and  brave 
hearts  of  twelve  millions  of  American  freemen, 
men  of  that  imperial  race  who  have  on  a  thousand 
fields  demonstrated  that,  in  defence  of  his  coun- 
try, the  citizen  soldier  of  America  has  been  rarely 
equalled  and  never  surpassed. 

The  Constitution  has  promoted  the  general  wel- 
fare. Our  country  extends  from  the  coral  islands 
of  Florida,  tempered  by  the  Gulf  Stream,  that 
"wandering  summer  of  the  seas,"  to  the  hyper- 
borean shores  of  Alaska,  a  half  degree  of  longi- 
tude to  the  westward  of  Hawaii,  and  within  a  mile 
and  a  half  of  the  dominion  of  the  Czar.  It  has 
been  compacted  into  a  homogeneous  people  of 
seventy  millions,  animated  by  a  common  patriot- 
ism, jealous  of  the  national  honor,  thrilling  with 
the  consciousness  of  our  country's  glory,  and  with 


ULYSSES    S.    GRANT  101 

devotion  to  our  country's  flag.  In  all  that  imperial 
domain  there  is  no  element  of  power. which  may 
not  be  exerted  for  the  proie^riotf  of  the>J whole  peo- 
ple or  of  any  part  against  a, foreign ^  foe*  The 
revenues  from  the  most, 'opurea't"afej;applkd  with- 
out question  to  the  defence  of  the  poorest  commu- 
nity. The  genius,  military  or  civic,  the  experience, 
the  learning  of  the  foremost  man  in  any  State  is 
available  for  the  people  of  all  the  Union.  The  in- 
terests of  every  State,  whether  they  may  involve 
the  fur  traffic  of  the  Northwest,  the  fisheries  of 
New  England,  the  cattle  of  Texas,  or  the  fruits 
of  Florida,  are  considered  and  protected  by  suit- 
able laws  and  treaties  made  by  the  best  statesman- 
ship of  the  entire  nation.  The  commerce  of  the 
States,  with  each  other  and  with  foreign  countries, 
is  regulated  by  the  concentrated  intelligence  and 
wisdom  of  all.  The  welfare  of  no  American  State 
is  at  the  mercy  of  a  neighboring  State.  There  is 
no  custom-house  on  any  interior  boundary  of  the 
forty-five  American  States.  From  degradation 
and  repudiation,  the  credit  of  the  United  States, 
on  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  sprang  in  an 
instant  to  the  highest  plane  of  solvency  and  repute. 
Sturdy  immigrants  by  hundreds,  thousands,  mil- 
lions, hastened  to  enjoy  the  blessings  of  a  land  of 
liberty,  equality,  and  law.  The  savage  wilderness 
was  speedily  converted  into  sweet  fields  arrayed 
in  the  living  green  of  grain,  and  Indian  corn,  or  the 
snowy  luxuriance  of  cotton.  Great  cities  like  St. 
Louis,  Cincinnati,  Louisville  and  Minneapolis,  and 
your  own  incalculable  Chicago,  arose  as  if  they 
were  the  creations  of  the  genii  of  Aladdin's  lamp 
and  ring.  Nor  was  this  development  simply  ag- 
ricultural or  numerical.  The  mechanical  arts  have 


102  ULYSSES    S.    GRANT 

been  cultivated  with  unprecedented  aptitude.  It 
has  been'de<;lared  hy  the. London  Times  that  "the 
New  Engl Wider,  is' att.ihventive  animal;  his  brain 
has  a.<bi#.«,tbat..w.ay«  JH(e  mechanizes  as  the  old 
Gree^scuiprtured',:  as.  itjKe  .Romans  legislated,  as 
the  Venetians  painted,  and  the  modern  Italian 
sings.  American  inventive  genius  has  developed 
more  that  is  new  and  practical  than  all  Europe 
combined." 

This  admission  of  the  "Thunderer"  is  true. 
The  grain  crops  on  the  pampas  of  the  Argentine 
Republic,  the  steppes  of  Russia,  and  the  valley  of 
the  Nile  are  harvested  with  the  reaping  machines 
of  McCormick,  and  McCormick  is  an  American 
inventor.  The  London  Times  itself  is  printed  on 
the  lightning  press  of  Richard  Hoe,  and  Hoe  is 
an  American  inventor.  The  incandescent  lights 
of  Edison  shed  their  brilliant  lustre  on  the  dome  of 
St.  Paul's,  the  facade  of  the  Acropolis,  the  pilasters 
of  the  Pantheon  and  the  minarets  of  St.  Sophia. 
The  whole  continent  of  Europe  is  a  network  of 
telegraph  lines,  and  "electricity,"  said  the  philos- 
opher Faraday,  "is  Franklin's" ;  and  to  the  inven- 
tive genius  of  Samuel  Findlay  Morse  and  the  enter- 
prise of  Cyrus  W.  Field,  Americans  both,  the  world 
is  indebted  for  its  practical  application  to  teleg- 
raphy. I  trust  that  I  am  honored  by  the  presence 
of  some  venerable  patriot  who  under  the  Consti- 
tution has  enjoyed  the  blessings  of  liberty  for  three 
score  years  and  ten,  and  if  such  an  one  is  here,  he 
may  reflect  that  in  his  time  American  railways 
have  grown  from  not  a  mile  to  one  hundred  and 
eighty-five  thousand  miles,  from  not  one  ton  of 
freight  to  an  annual  transportation  of  seven  hun- 
dred millions  of  tons,  from  not  one  passenger  to 


ULYSSES    S.    GRANT  103 

five  hundred  millions  of  passengers  annually,  from 
not  a  dollar  of  capital  to  ten  thousand  million  dol- 
lars of  capital,  so  that  the  most  inaccessible  can  be 
reached  from  the  most  distant  station,  in  our  three 
million  square  miles,  more  rapidly  than  Washing- 
ton could  have  journeyed  from  the  shores  of  the 
Potomac  to  the  banks  of  the  Hudson.  Phenom- 
enal as  is  our  material  development,  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  mind  has  surpassed  it.  Nowhere  has 
such  liberal  provision  been  made  for  popular  edu- 
cation, either  by  public  taxation  or  by  the  contribu- 
tions of  philanthropists,  such  as  Stephen  Girard, 
John  D.  Rockefeller,  Leland  Stanford,  Asa 
Packer,  Johns  Hopkins,  Paul  Tulane,  James  Ritch, 
James  G.  Clark,  Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  James 
Lick,  A.  J.  Drexel,  Peter  Cooper  and  Ezra  Cor- 
nell. And  to  George  Peabody  we  should  not  omit 
to  ascribe  the  honor  of  having  done  the  greatest 
good  to  the  greatest  number  of  beneficiaries.  In 
hundreds  of  schools  of  our  once  desolate  South  his 
name 

"Is  as  the  precious  ointment  shed 
On  consecrated  Aaron's  head." 

There  are  more  colleges  in  the  United  States 
where  a  respectable  academical  education  may  be 
obtained  than  in  any  nation  of  the  earth,  not  ex- 
cepting Germany,  with  its  universities,  polytechnic 
institutions,  and  five  hundred  gymnasia.  Nor  have 
the  efforts  of  the  American  people  to  obtain  edu- 
cation been  fruitless.  Many  Americans  of  broad- 
est enlightenment  and  widest  renown  sprung  from 
homes  of  poverty  where  learning  was  unknown. 
The  father  of  Abraham  Lincoln  could  not  read 
until  he  was  taught  by  his  second  wife,  and  the 


io4  ULYSSES    S.    GRANT 

fame  of  the  son  will  be  mentioned  by  nations  yet 
unborn  in  accents  yet  unknown. 

An  English  satirist  once  asked,  "Who  reads  an 
American  book  ?"  We  may  now  reply  that  Ameri- 
can books  in  every  department  of  literature  and 
science  are  favorites  in  the  libraries  of  the  world. 
Our  historians  like  Bancroft,  Prescott,  and  Mot- 
ley; our  poets  like  Whittier,  Longfellow,  and 
Bryant;  our  novelists  like  Irving,  Cooper,  and 
Hawthorne;  our  lexicographers  like  Webster  and 
Joseph  Emerson  Worcester  have  captivated, 
charmed,  and  instructed  mankind  the  world 
around.  An  American  woman  wrote  a  book  in 
1852,  of  which  four  stereotyped  editions  of  four 
hundred  thousand  copies  were  sold  in  Boston,  and 
a  London  publisher,  we  are  told,  had  to  employ  a 
thousand  printers  to  furnish  volumes  sufficient 
to  meet  the  demand.  Nay,  more,  a  book  by  an 
American  author  in  a  simple  style,  lucid  and  fas- 
cinating, rivalling  that  of  Davilla  or  of  Thucy- 
dides,  has  obtained  a  sale  greater  than  that  of  any 
other  work  by  any  other  writer,  living  or  dead,  a 
book  written  with  heroic  constancy,  while  its  au- 
thor in  every  moment  of  its  creation  was  suffer- 
ing the  anguish  of  approaching  dissolution.  To 
the  nobility  of  soul  and  the  military  genius  of  that 
author,  our  Union  owes  its  power  to  fulfil  that 
other  and  greatest  purpose  of  the  Constitution, 
"to  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and 
to  our  posterity."  I  need  not  say  that  I  mean  the 
"Personal  Memoirs"  of  Ulysses  S.  Grant. 

For  the  life  of  a  mighty  nation,  thus  conceived 
by  the  patriots  and  sages  of  the  Revolution,  and 
nurtured  by  the  providence  of  God,  this  American 
fought.  It  was  for  this  at  Shiloh,  with  the  river 


ULYSSES    S.    GRANT  105 

at  the  back  of  his  torn  and  bleeding  battalions,  he 
scorned  the  thought  of  retreat.  It  was  for  this 
at  Vicksburg  he  braved  the  miasma  of  the  swamp 
and  the  roar  of  the  crevasse,  until  the  levees  along 
the  river  were  but  cities  of  the  dead.  For  this  he 
dared  to  cross  the  turbid  flood  of  the  Mississippi, 
and,  like  Caesar  at  the  siege  of  Alesia,  interposed 
his  command  between  two  armies.  For  this  he 
stormed  the  face  of  Missionary  Ridge.  For  this 
he  led  the  massy  column  of  his  brave  soldiery  into 
the  gloomy  shades  of  the  Wilderness,  and  entered 
upon  the  year  of  battles,  when  the  rifles  were  never 
voiceless  and  the  dread  artillery  was  scarcely  hushed. 
To  this  silent  man,  who  in  his  youth  and  simple 
young  manhood  had  been  evolving  powers  of 
which  he  himself  was  not  aware,  was  accorded  in 
the  second  year  of  his  leadership  the  grandest 
military  command  under  government  the  world 
has  ever  known.  That  his  armies  were  tremendous 
is  true,  but  other  generals  trained  like  him,  with 
equal  opportunities,  had  equal  armies,  and  they 
had  all  failed,  even  as  the  sons  of  the  ancient  He- 
brews passed  before  the  Prophet  of  God;  and 
Samuel  said,  "The  Lord  hath  not  chosen  thee." 
But  when  David  came,  the  Lord  saith,  "Arise, 
anoint  him,  for  this  is  he."  And  had  Grant  not  foe- 
men  worthy  of  his  steel?  Who  so  ready  as  he  to 
record  his  lofty  estimate  of  their  constancy  and 
their  valor?  The  sincerity  of  their  conviction  he  did 
not  question.  Here  in  his  imperial  state,  where  the 
nobility  of  your  manhood  has  given  "bond  in  stone 
and  everduring  brass  to  guard  and  to  immortalize" 
the  ashes  of  the  Confederate  dead;  here  where 
lived  your  great  commander  who  in  his  last  re- 
corded words  declared  that  they  deemed  their 


io6  ULYSSES    S.    GRANT 

principles  dearer  than  life  itself,  it  needs  not  that 
I  should  laud  the  manhood  or  defend  the  sincerity 
of  Southern  men.  No  affront  would  he  permit, 
when  they  stacked  their  arms,  to  the  worn  and 
wasted  but  heroic  veterans  of  Lee.  The  Great 
Commander  was  in  battle  their  sternest  foe, 
their  gentlest  victor  in  defeat.  "They  are 
our  countrymen  now,"  he  said  to  his  gallant  sol- 
diers before  the  last  wreath  of  smoke  had  floated 
away  from  the  firing-lines  at  Appomattox.  How 
he  kept  his  soldierly  word  to  General  Robert  Ed- 
ward Lee  when  the  parole  of  that  great  soldier 
was  threatened  will  forever  endear  his  memory 
to  Southern  men.  We  are  brethren  now,  shoulder 
to  shoulder  under  the  glory-bright  ensign  of  our 
common  country,  and  I  thank  God  that,  with  the 
clear  vision  of  the  dying,  the  noble  patriot  whom 
we  commemorate  to-day  lived  to  see  this  truth. 
In  simple  phrase  and  with  infinite  pathos  he  wrote : 
"I  feel  that  we  are  on  the  eve  of  a  new  era,  when 
there  is  to  be  great  harmony  between  the  Federals 
and  the  Confederates.  I  cannot  stay  to  be  a  living 
witness  to  the  correctness  of  this  prophecy,  but  I 
feel  it  within  me  that  it  is  to  be  so.  The  universal 
kind  feeling  expressed  for  me  at  a  time  when  it  was 
supposed  that  each  day  would  prove  my  last 
seemed  to  me  the  beginning  of  the  answer  to  'Let 
us  have  peace.'  ' 

With  such  emotions  in  his  heart  this  great  Amer- 
ican died.  And,  my  countrymen,  his  prophetic 
words  were  true.  Now,  in  our  country's  need,  we 
are  a  reunited  people.  His  magnanimity  to  South- 
ern people,  his  soldierly  honor  to  his  great  adver- 
sary have  found  their  reward  in  the  devotion  to  his 
country  of  that  other  Lee,  who  amid  the  curses 


ULYSSES    S.    GRANT  107 

and  the  treachery  of  the  stealthy  Spaniards,  the 
pestilence  among  their  victims,  and  the  cruel  mas- 
sacre of  our  sleeping  sailors,  with  consummate 
courage  and  manliness  has  maintained  the  honor 
of  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  And  here  and  now,  in 
the  gracious  presence  of  the  daughter  of  General 
Grant,  I  have  her  glad  permission  to  announce  to 
the  people  of  their  childhood  home,  that  this  day 
her  son,  the  grandson  of  the  hero  Chieftain  of  the 
Union,  has  taken  service  as  the  officer  and  com- 
rade of  General  Fitzhugh  Lee,  the  nephew  of  Rob- 
ert Edward  Lee,  the  hero  Chieftain  of  the  South- 
ern cause. 

Far  to  the  South,  in  the  State  of  my  birth  and  my 
love,  in  a  park  in  beautiful  Savannah,  where  soft 
winds  from  the  Atlantic  rustle  the  palms,  swing 
the  silver  censers  of  the  acacia,  and  disperse  the 
fragrance  of  the  magnolia  and  the  rose,  noble  men 
and  gentle  women  have  reared  a  monument  to  the 
Confederate  dead.  On  its  face,  taken  from  the 
grand  poetry  of  Scripture,  are  these  words: 

"Come  from  the  four  winds,  O  breath, 
And  breathe  upon  these  slain  that  they  may  live." 

The  prayer  has  been  granted.  They  live,  O,  my 
countrymen.  They  live  in  millions  of  their  gallant 
sons  and  kinsmen.  They  live  and  move  and  have 
their  being  as  Americans  because  of  the  generosity 
of  Grant,  and  the  magnanimity  of  the  country  he 
loved  and  served.  And  now  in  this  day  of  our 
country's  need,  under  the  Flag  of  our  Fathers, 
"with  not  a  star  erased  and  not  a  stripe  polluted," 
in  even  line  with  the  veterans  of  the  Union,  and 
the  noble  manhood  of  the  North,  the  ground  shak- 
ing with  their  measured  tread,  the  cries  of  the  ene- 


io8  ULYSSES    S.    GRANT 

my  drowned  by  the  rebel  yell,  clearing  the  way 
with  their  flaming  volleys,  they  will  bear  down 
upon  our  country's  foe.  Now  the  truth  will  be  seen 
of  all  men,  that  the  Union  which  Washington  fos- 
tered, and  Grant  did  so  much  to  save,  will  be  in- 
deed perpetual,  the  greatest  citadel  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty  on  earth,  a  glory  to  the  most  high 
God,  and  a  blessing  to  humanity  in  all  the  years  to 
come. 

On  the  day  of  this  address  the  first  shot  of  the  Spanish- 
American  War  was  fired  at  Matanzas  and  the  Galena  Company 
of  the  Illinois  National  Guard  was  entraining  for  the  front. 


FACING   PACE    109 


JAMES  EDWARD  OGLETHORPE.* 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Society: 

The  Sons  of  the  Revolution  have  proud  mem- 
ories and  a  prouder  mission.  It  is  their  purpose 
and  duty  to  create,  or  maintain,  a  lively  sense  of  the 
country's  glory,  a  just  pride  in  the  achievements 
of  its  great  men,  and  a  fixed  resolution  in  the 
minds  of  the  people,  and  particularly  the  young — 
to  advance  the  one  by  emulating  the  other.  Of 
homogeneous  blood,  animated  by  sentiments  in- 
spired by  the  generous  valor,  the  self-sacrificial 
patriotism,  the  meritorious  services  of  those  from 
whom  we  spring,  we  are  inevitably  devoted  to  the 
revival  and  advancement  of  genuine  Americanism. 
That  the  time  is  opportune  for  the  best  and  the 
most  constant  efforts  of  every  member  of  this,  and 
every  kindred  society,  indeed,  for  the  co-operation 
of  every  American  citizen  to  this  end  may  not  be 
doubted.  The  work  is  educative.  We  point  to  the 
heroic  men  of  the  past  as  exemplars  commanding 
the  admiration,  and  worthy  of  the  rivalry  of  our 
Country's  patriotic  youth.  The  monuments  which 
adorn  the  streets  and  squares  of  this  city  are  silent, 
but  eloquent,  testimonials  to  that  enduring  influ- 
ence which  the  memories  of  the  great  exert  upon 
the  efforts  and  character  of  a  people.  They  are 
equally  eloquent  of  the  ennobling  patriotism  of  a 


*Address  at  the  Annual  Banquet  of  the  Georgia  Society  Sons 
of  the  Revolution,  at  Savannah,  on  the  evening  of  the  5th  day 
of  February,  1894. 

109 


no      JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE 

generous  community.  But,  sir,  there  is  here  a 
vacant  square,  and  to-night,  at  the  suggestion  of 
the  honored  President  of  our  Society,  I  come  to 
urge  with  all  sincerity  and  all  the  ardor  of  my  na- 
ture, that  it  is  fitting,  aye,  it  is  demanded  that  the 
Sons  of  the  Revolution  and  their  friends  should 
undertake  the  erection  there  of  an  enduring  monu- 
ment commemorative  of  the  public  virtue  of  that 
ranking  general  of  the  British  Army  who  rejected 
the  command  of  the  forces  sent  for  the  subjugation 
of  the  American  Colonies,  comrade  in  arms  of 
Marlborough  and  Eugene,  compatriot  of  Chat- 
ham, friend  of  Berkeley,  patron  of  Wesley,  inti- 
mate of  Johnson  and  Goldsmith,  of  Reynolds  and 
Burke;  James  Edward  Oglethorpe,who  "driven  by 
strong  benevolence  of  soul"  became  the  immortal 
founder  of  the  city  of  Savannah  and  of  the  State 
of  Georgia. 

This  illustrious  man  was  the  youngest  son  of  Sir 
Theophilus  Oglethorpe,  of  Godalming,  in  the 
County  of  Surry.  His  mother  was  Eleanor,  daugh- 
ter of  Richard  Wall,  Esq.,  of  Rogane,  in  Ireland. 
He  was  born  on  the  2ist  day  of  December,  the 
year  of  the  British  Revolution,  1688.  His  parents 
were  intensely  Jacobite  in  politics,  and  so  closely 
intimate  with  James  the  Second,  that  after  the 
death  of  Sir  Theophilus,  Mrs.  F.  Shaftoe  attempt- 
ed to  prove  that  the  Pretender,  who  many  good 
Protestants  believed  was  furtively  conveyed  in  a 
warming  pan  to  the  Palace  of  St.  James  to  become 
the  heir  apparent  of  the  Stuarts,  was  in  reality  the 
child  of  Sir  Theophilus  and  Lady  Oglethorpe.* 

Sir  Theophilus,  then  Colonel  Oglethorpe,  com- 

*Life  of  the  Duke  of  Marlborough,  by  Field  Marshal  Vis- 
count Wolseley,  K.  P.  1st  vol.,  p.  322. 


JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE      in 

manded  the  Royal  Horse  against  the  Duke  of 
Monmouth  at  the  bloody  battle  of  Sedgemoor, 
where  Lord  Wolseley  describes  him  as  "careering 
uselessly  over  the  country  in  search  of  the  Rebel 
army." 

The  mother  of  General  Oglethorpe  Dean  Swift 
describes  as  a  "cunning  devil,"  and  Mrs.  Shaftoe 
writes,  "Let  times  go  how  it  would,  she  could  al- 
ways make  friends,"  and  with  more  malevolence 
describes  her  as  "whining  upon  the  countrymen's 
wives  with  many  whining  ways  to  get  the  women  to 
get  their  husbands  to  give  their  votes  to  Sir  The- 
ophilus  Oglethorpe  to  be  a  member  of  Parliament, 
which  they  did." 

At  sixteen  years  of  age  the  young  Oglethorpe 
was  a  member  of  Corpus  Christi  College,  Oxford, 
but  he  was  not  long  to  frequent  with  the  Muses  the 
classic  shades  along  the  Isis.  In  a  little  more  than 
a  year  the  Great  Duke  of  Marlborough,  whose  oc- 
cupation in  those  great  days  was  to  "beat  the 
Frenchmen  through  and  through,"  wrote  to  Ogle- 
thorpe's  mother  to  offer  the  youth  a  commission  in 
the  Guards.  At  this  time  it  was  popularly  sung 
in  all  England: 

"Malbrouk,  the  prince  of  commanders, 
Is  gone  to  the  war  in  Flanders ; 
His  fame  is  like  Alexander's ; 
But  when  will  he  come  home?" 

More  than  a  hundred  years  afterwards,  when 
Napoleon,  at  the  head  of  the  Imperial  Guard,  was 
crossing  the  Niemen  to  enter  on  the  fatal  Russian 
campaign,  he  was  humming  the  same  air.  It  was 
the  period  of  England's  greatest  military  glory. 
These  were  the  days  of  Blenheim,  of  Ramillies,  of 
Malplaquet,  of  Oudenarde,  and  the  founder  of 


ii2      JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE 

Georgia  was  soon  brilliantly  conspicuous  among 
the  veterans  of  Marlborough  who  won  those  fa- 
mous fields.  His  fine  figure,  soldierly  deportment, 
and  intrepid  courage  soon  attracted  the  notice  of 
"Corporal  John,"  and  through  the  influence  of  the 
commander-in-chief  and  of  the  Duke  of  Argyle,  he 
became  the  FirstSecretary,  and  afterwards  the  aide 
de  camp  of  Prince  Eugene.  Of  this  great  soldier 
Carlyle  writes,  "He  was  a  bright  little  soul,  with  a 
flash  in  him  as  of  heaven's  own  lightning."  In  one 
of  his  notes  to  an  edition  of  Pope's  writings  Dr. 
Wharton  declares  that  Prince  Eugene  always  spoke 
of  Oglethorpe  in  the  highest  terms.  Belonging  to 
the  military  family  of  this  renowned  general,  the 
young  officer  took  part  in  several  successive  cam- 
paigns against  the  enormous  armies  of  the  Turks. 
He  not  only  acquired  a  skilful  mastery  of  the  pro- 
fession of  arms,  but  won  the  official  acknowledg- 
ments of  his  Serene  Highness,  the  most  famous 
general  of  that  warlike  house  whose  descendants, 
with  the  proud  declaration  "Savoy  cannot  retreat," 
threw  off  foreign  rule,  and  in  this  day  are  of  the 
royal  family  of  Italy. 

At  the  battle  of  Peterwaradin,  fought  on  the  5th 
of  August,  1716,  at  the  siege  of  Temeswaer,  which 
capitulated  after  desperate  resistance  on  the  4th  of 
October  of  the  same  year,  and  at  the  even  more 
famous  siege  of  Belgrade,  in  the  following  year, 
and  in  other  engagements,  Oglethorpe  won  much 
renown.  Belgrade  was  declared  to  be  "a  place  of 
the  last  importance  to  the  Imperialists  and  to  the 
Turks;  the  bridle  of  all  the  adjoining  country;  the 
glorious  trophy  of  the  valor  and  conduct  of  his 
Serene  Highness,  Prince  Eugene,  and  the  bulwark, 
not  of  Germany  only,  but  of  all  Christendom 


JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE      113 

on  this  side."  Fifty-five  years  later,  and  after 
Oglethorpe's  fightings  were  all  over,  Boswell  and 
Dr.  Johnson  dined  with  him  at  his  London  home. 
During  the  repast  Dr.  Johnson  said,  "Pray,  Gen- 
eral, give  us  an  account  of  the  siege  of  Belgrade," 
upon  which  the  General,  pouring  a  little  wine  upon 
the  table,  described  everything  with  a  wet  finger; 
"here  we  were,  here  were  the  Turks,"  etc.  The 
conversation  had  turned  on  duelling,  and  Boswell 
had  started  the  question  whether  it  was  consistent 
with  moral  duty.  The  brave  old  General,  recounts 
the  biographer,  fired  at  this,  and  said  with  a  lofty 
air,  "Undoubtedly  a  man  has  a  right  to  defend  his 
honor."  "The  General  told  us,"  writes  Boswell, 
"that  when  he  was  a  very  young  man,  I  think  only 
fifteen,  serving  under  Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy,  he 
was  sitting  in  company  at  table  with  the  Prince  of 
Wurtemberg.  The  Prince  took  up  a  glass  of  wine, 
and  by  a  fillip  made  some  of  it  fly  in  Oglethorpe's 
face.  Here  was  a  nice  dilemma.  To  have  challenged 
him  instantly  might  have  fixed  a  quarrelsome 
character  upon  the  young  soldier;  to  have  taken  no 
notice  of  it  might  have  been  considered  as  coward- 
ice. Oglethorpe,  therefore,  keeping  his  eye  upon 
the  Prince  and  smiling  all  the  time,  as  if  he  took 
what  his  Highness  had  done  in  jest,  said,  'Mon 
Prince'  (I  forget  the  French  words  he  used;  the 
purport,  however,  was),  'that's  a  good  joke;  but 
we  do  it  much  better  in  England,'  and  threw  a 
whole  glass  of  wine  in  the  Prince's  face.  An  old 
general  who  sat  by  said,  'II  a  bien  fait,  mon  Prince, 
vous  1'avez  commence.'  ' 

Peace  having  ensued  after  the  fall  of  Belgrade, 
Oglethorpe  was  offered  military  rank  in  the  Ger- 
man service,  but  concluding  "that  the  profession  of 


ii4      JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE 

a  soldier  in  time  of  peace  offered  few  opportunities 
for  promotion,  and  none  for  distinction,"  he  re- 
turned to  England,  and  in  the  year  1722,  succeed- 
ing, because  of  the  death  of  his  brother  Lewis,  to 
the  inheritance  of  the  family  estate  at  Godalming, 
for  thirty-two  years  he  was  successively  returned  to 
Parliament  as  a  member  for  Haselmere.  His  par- 
liamentary career  was  marked  by  energy.  He 
spoke  often  and  freely.  He  was  never  the  tool  of 
party,  and  always  acted  with  intelligence  and  in- 
dependence. He  proposed  and  prompted  many 
practical  regulations  for  the  benefit  of  trade.  Of 
his  remarks  on  the  King's  speech,  made  on  the  i2th 
of  January,  1731,  Smollett,  in  his  History  of  Eng- 
land, recounts,  "Mr.  Oglethorpe,  a  gentleman  of 
unblemished  character,  brave,  generous,  and  hu- 
mane, affirmed  that  many  other  things  related  more 
immediately  to  the  honor  and  interest  of  the  nation 
than  did  the  guarantee  of  the  pragmatic  sanction," 
etc.  It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  on  a  bill  for 
encouraging  the  trade  of  the  British  sugar  colo- 
nies, Oglethorpe  gave  expression  to  those  enlarged 
and  liberal  views  of  colonial  rights  the  disregard 
of  which  some  forty  years  later  brought  on  the 
American  Revolution. 

uln  all  cases,"  said  he,  "that  come  before  this 
House,  where  there  seems  a  clashing  of  interests, 
we  ought  to  have  no  exclusive  regard  to  the  par- 
ticular interest  of  any  one  country  or  set  of  people, 
but  to  the  good  of  the  whole.  Our  colonies  are  a 
part  of  our  dominions.  The  people  in  them  are 
our  own  people;  and  we  ought  to  show  an  equal 
respect  to  all.  If  it  should  appear  that  our  Plan- 
tations upon  the  continent  of  America  are  against 
that  which  is  desired  by  the  sugar  colonies,  we  are 


JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE      115 

to  presume  that  the  granting  thereof  will  be  a 
prejudice  to  the  trade  or  particular  interests  of  our 
continental  settlements.  And,  surely,  the  danger 
of  hurting  so  considerable  a  part  of  our  domin- 
ions,— a  part  which  reaches  from  the  34th  to  the 
46th  degree  of  north  latitude, — will,  at  least,  in- 
cline us  to  be  extremely  cautious  in  what  we  are 
going  about.  If,  therefore,  it  shall  appear  that  the 
relieving  our  sugar  colonies  will  do  more  harm 
to  the  other  parts  of  our  dominions,  than  it  can  do 
good  to  them,  we  must  refuse  it,  and  think  of  some 
other  method  of  putting  them  upon  an  equal  foot- 
ing with  their  rivals  in  any  part  of  trade." 

Notwithstanding  the  varied  and  valuable  serv- 
ices of  his  long  parliamentary  career,  none  of  these 
will  compare  in  its  importance  with  that  inquiry  he 
instituted  into  the  state  of  the  jails  in  London,  and 
particularly  into  the  condition  of  those  unfortu- 
nates who  were  held  as  prisoners  for  debt.  His 
friend,  Robert  Castell,  scholar  and  author,  not- 
withstanding he  had  never  had  that  distemper,  was 
forced  by  an  infamous  tipstaff  into  a  cell  where  the 
small-pox  was  raging.  He  died,  leaving  a  large 
family  of  small  children  in  distress.  Stung  and 
smitten  with  the  outrage,  "Oglethorpe  resolved," 
said  one  of  his  biographers,  "to  leave  the  world 
at  his  own  death  a  little  purified  of  ancient  crime 
and  folly."  He  immediately  brought  the  subject 
to  the  attention  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  he 
was  made  chairman  of  the  committee  to  investi- 
gate the  debtors'  prisons.  Three  separate  reports 
show  how  thoroughly  and  fearlessly  this  work  was 
performed,  and  they  show  too  the  atrocities  prac- 
ticed in  that  day  and  time  on  the  unfortunate.  The 


n6      JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE 

humanity  of  Oglethorpe  inspired  and  merited  the 
fine  passage  in  Thompson's  "Seasons"  : 

"And  here,  can  I  forget  the  generous  band 
Who  touched  with  human  woe,  regressive  searched 
Into  the  horrors  of  the  gloomy  jail? 
Unpitied  and  unheard,  where  misery  moans; 
Where  sickness  pines ;  where  thirst  and  hunger  burn, 
And  poor  misfortune  feels  the  lash  of  vice." 

Nor  was  the  strong  benevolence  of  the  soul  of 
the  Founder  of  Georgia  exhausted  with  this  in- 
quiry. He  began  to  discuss  and  urge  measures  for 
the  amelioration  of  the  debtor  class.  By  attractive 
and  repeated  statements  he  brought  before  the  pub- 
lic the  advantages  of  the  American  colonies  as 
homes  for  these  unfortunates.  In  1717  the  Pro- 
prietors of  Carolina  had  made  to  one  Sir  Robert 
Montgomery,  a  Scottish  baronet,  a  grant  of  all  the 
lands  lying  between  the  Savannah  and  the  Al- 
tamaha.  It  is  probable  that  this  noble  son  of  Cale- 
donia did  not  fully  appreciate  the  magnificence  of 
the  grant,  with  which  he  proposed  to  form  what  he 
termed  the  "Margravate  of  Azalia"  of  which  he 
and  his  descendants  were  to  be  the  perpetual  Mar- 
graves. He,  however,  declared  it  to  be  "the  most 
amiable  country  of  the  universe."  "Nature,"  he 
said,  "has  not  blessed  the  world  with  any  tract 
which  can  be  preferable  to  it;  paradise,  with  all  her 
virgin  beauties,  may  be  modestly  supposed  at  most 
but  equal  to  its  native  excellencies.  It  lies  in  the 
same  latitude  with  Palestine  itself,  that  promised 
Canaan  which  was  pointed  out  by  God's  own  choice 
to  bless  the  labors  of  a  favorite  people."  Happily, 
perhaps,  for  the  sturdy  yeomanry  who  now  dwell 
in  the  territory  of  this  "Margravate,"  Sir  Robert's 
grant  expired  by  its  own  conditions. 


JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE      117 

In  1720  King  George  the  First  had  caused  a  fort 
to  be  constructed  at  the  mouth  of  the  Altamaha. 
It  was  of  no  use,  and  was  burned  in  1729.  About 
that  time  a  Swiss,  one  Colonel  Purry,  settled  with 
a  colony  of  six  hundred  of  his  countrymen  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Savannah,  at  a  place  called  Purrys- 
burg.  It  is  hard  to  realize  that  St.  Augustine,  the 
stronghold  of  the  Spanish  dominion  in  North 
America,  had  even  then  been  in  existence  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty-four  years,  and  that  the  gold-loving 
Spaniards  had  been  working  mines  of  the  precious 
metal  in  that  enchanting  country  of  North  Georgia 
where  the  Chattahoochee  rushes  "down  from  the 
hills  of  Habersham,  and  out  of  the  valleys  of 
Hall."  In  the  epigrammatic  language  of  Macau- 
lay,  "The  American  dependencies  of  the  Castilian 
crown  still  extended  far  to  the  North  of  Cancer, 
and  far  to  the  South  of  Capricorn."  The  fancy  of 
Goldsmith  has  depicted  in  the  "Deserted  Village" 
the  wilderness  dangers  with  which  nature  had  en- 
countered the  Georgia  colonists  : 

"Those  matted  woods  where  birds  forget  to  sing, 
But  silent  bats  in  drowsy  clusters  cling; 
Those  poisonous  fields  with  rank  luxuriance  crown'd, 
Where  the  dark  scorpion  gathers  death  around; 
Where  at  each  step  the  stranger  fears  to  wake 
The  rattling  terrors  of  the  vengeful  snake: 
Where  crouching  tigers  wait  their  hapless  prey, 
And  savage  men  more  murderous  still  than  they; 
While  oft  in  whirls  the  mad  tornado  flies, 
Mingling  the  ravag'd  landscape  with  the  skies." 

But  neither  the  bats,  nor  the  scorpions,  nor  the 
snakes,  nor  the  tigers,  nor  the  tornadoes,  offered  to 
the  colonists  the  cruel  danger,  and  constant  alarm, 
occasioned  by  the  unspeakable  Spaniard.  Menen- 
dez  had  cruelly  put  to  death  French  settlers  on  the 


n8      JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE 

St.  John's,  and  affixed  to  their  dead  bodies  the 
placard,  "I  do  this  not  as  to  Frenchmen,  but  as  to 
Lutherans."  The  spot  is  still  called  "Matanzas," 
which  imports  the  massacre.  Many  a  "Matan- 
zas" is  there  in  the  American  dominions  once  held 
by  Spain.  The  daring  Jean  Ribault  in  turn  hung 
the  Spaniards.  "I  do  this,"  he  said  in  the  placard 
affixed  to  the  bodies  of  his  victims,  "not  as  to  Span- 
iards, but  as  to  murderers  and  assassins."  "The 
presence  of  the  Spaniard  in  Florida,"  writes  a  bi- 
ographer of  Oglethorpe,  "was  an  intolerable  thorn 
in  the  side  of  the  South  Carolina  planter.  There 
seemed  to  be  no  bounds  to  his  insolence.  He  was 
always  stirring  up  slaves  to  rebel;  he  enticed  them 
over  to  Florida  by  the  thousands,  and  there  formed 
them  into  negro  regiments,  treating  them  well.  He 
tampered  with  the  Indian  tribes.  He  claimed  all 
the  country  as  far  north  as  the  Savannah  and  be- 
yond. The  English,  on  the  other  hand,  claimed  all 
the  country  at  least  as  far  as  the  St.  John's.  Thus 
it  was  that  a  little  more  than  the  whole  of  the  pres- 
ent State  of  Georgia  was  in  dispute."  To  this  en- 
vironment, his  standard  emblazoned  with  the 
proud  legend,  "wow  sibi  sed  aliis,"  "not  for  our- 
selves, but  for  others,"  did  Oglethorpe  come  with 
the  ancestors  of  men  who  are  now  in  the  sound  of 
my  voice.  His  was  to  be  a  military  colony.  In- 
deed, as  soon  as  the  colonists  had  been  accepted  in 
England,  they  were  formed  into  little  brigades, 
and  were  drilled  daily  by  sergeants  from  the  Royal 
Guard — an  hereditary  explanation  for  the  military 
spirit  which  to  this  day  pervades  this  warlike  com- 
munity. How  the  settlers  came  over  on  the  Ann 
galley,  how  it  was  loaded  with  arms  and  munitions 
of  war,  with  carpenters,  bricklayers,  farmers,  and 


JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE      119 

seeds  of  all  description,  not  forgetting  ten  tuns  of 
Alderman  Parson's  best  beer;  how  the  navigator 
steered  far  to  the  southward  by  way  of  Madeira 
to  take  in  five  tuns  of  wine,  which  they  did,  and 
how  cordially  the  colonists  were  welcomed  by  the 
South  Carolinians;  how  the  noble  Tomochichi  has- 
tened from  Yamacraw  to  welcome  the  great  man, 
who  was  to  become  for  the  rest  of  his  life  his  best 
and  most  valuable  friend;  how,  in  short,  the  prov- 
ince of  Georgia  grew  to  be  a  buffer  State  between 
the  Carolinians  and  the  Spaniards,  is  familiar  to 
us  all.  The  advent  of  Oglethorpe,  and  his  bene- 
ficiaries, was  to  prove  most  comforting  to  the  Car- 
olinians. A  London  rhymer  of  the  day  expressed 
this  pleasant  and  poetical  forecast: 

"To  Carolina  be  a  Georgia  joined: 
Then  shall  both  colonies  sure  progress  make, 
Endeared  to  either  for  the  other's  sake ; 
Georgia  shall  Carolina's  favor  move, 
And  Carolina  bloom  by  Georgia's  love." 

Certain  generous  Carolinians  came  over  with 
their  slaves  and  did  yeomen  service  for  the  comfort 
and  settlement  of  Oglethorpe's  company.  One  of 
these  was  a  Mr.  Saint  Julian,  whose  name  is  yet 
borne  by  a  street  in  Savannah.  Boston  has  its 
"Milk"  Street,  the  evolution  of  the  path  once  at 
morn  and  eve  traversed  by  the  "milky  mothers" 
of  its  herd.  A  noble  thoroughfare  in  Savannah  is 
termed  "Bull."  The  taurine  appellation  is  not,  as 
the  uninformed  might  deem,  ascribable  to  the  fact 
that  the  stately  patriarch  of  Oglethorpe's  herd  may 
there  have  ambled  forth  in  search  of  food  and 
strange  adventure.  The  veracities  of  history  impel 
us  to  record  that  it  was  named  in  honor  of  a  Dr. 
Bull,  a  generous  Carolina  friend.  Through  all  the 
early  development  of  the  colony  Oglethorpe  was 


120      JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE 

the  guide,  philosopher,  and  friend  of  every  colo- 
nist. His  rude  court-house  occupied  the  precise 
site  in  the  city  of  the  United  States  court-house 
and  post-office  of  this  day.  But  the  General  had  no 
house  of  his  own.  The  hardy  soldier  dwelt  in  a 
tent  under  four  pines  then  standing  near  the  pres- 
ent City  Hall.  Afterward  he  charmed  the  High- 
landers, who  had  settled  at  Darien,  by  wearing 
their  costume,  and  sleeping  in  his  plaid  on  the 
ground  with  them.  Nearly  a  half  century  later 
Boswell  and  Dr.  Johnson  dined  with  him  in  Lon- 
don. "The  General,"  said  Boswell,  "declaimed 
against  luxury."  Johnson.— "Depend  upon  it,  sir, 
every  state  of  society  is  as  luxurious  as  it  can  be. 
Men  always  take  the  best  they  can  get."  Ogle- 
thorpe. — "But  the  best  depends  much  upon  our- 
selves; if  we  can  be  as  well  satisfied  with  plain 
things,  we  are  in  the  wrong  to  accustom  our  pal- 
ates to  what  is  high-seasoned  and  expensive.  What 
says  Addison  in  his  'Cato,'  speaking  of  the  Nu- 
midian? 

"  'Coarse  are  his  meals,  the  fortune  of  the  chase, 
Amid  the  running  stream  he  slakes  his  thirst, 
Toils  all  the  day,  and  at  the  approach  of  night, 
On  the  first  friendly  bank  he  throws  him  down, 
Or  rests  his  head  upon  a  rock  till  morn ; 
And  if  the  following  day  he  chance  to  find 
A  new  repast,  or  an  untasted  spring, 
Blesses  his  stars,  and  thinks  it  luxury.' 

Let  us  have  that  kind  of  luxury,  sir,  if  you  will." 
Oglethorpe  believed  in  what  we  term  "The  simple 
life." 

He  returned  to  England,  taking  with  him  Tomo- 
chichi,  Senauki,  his  wife,  Toonakowski,  their  son, 
Hillispilli,  the  war  captain,  and  other  noted  war- 
riors. It  soon  became  his  duty  to  return  to  Savan- 


JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE      121 

nah,  and  with  him  came  a  large  addition  to  the 
colonists,  and  two  young  men,  whose  names  and 
whose  work  in  another  vocation  will  be  as  enduring 
as  his.  They  were  John  and  Charles  Wesley,  who 
were  coming  out  as  missionaries.  "These  are  no 
tithe-pig  parsons,"  said  Oglethorpe  to  some  of  the 
gentlemen  on  board,  who  attempted  to  take  liber- 
ties with  the  missionaries. 

Another  most  valuable  acquisition  to  the  colony 
had  been  the  Salzburgers.  These  interesting  peo- 
ple had  belonged  to  the  Archbishopric  of  Salzburg, 
then  the  most  eastern  district  of  Bavaria.  For 
many  years  they  had  been  the  object  of  most  cruel 
persecution  for  conscience  sake.  They  had  been 
subjected  to  tortures  of  the  most  revolting  kind. 
In  1620  the  head  of  one  of  their  pastors  was  nailed 
to  his  pulpit.  In  1732  they  were  living  on  the 
northern  slope  of  the  Tyrol.  "Their  country," 
said  Carlyle,  "is  celebrated  for  its  airy  beauty, 
rocky  mountains,  smooth,  green  valleys  and  swift, 
rushing  streams."  Salzburg  is  the  archbishop  city, 
and  the  Archbishop  was  one  Firmian,  "by  secular 
qualities,"  said  the  same  writer,  "of  the  strict,  lean 
character,  sullen  rather  than  wise,  who  had 
brought  the  orthodoxies  with  him  in  a  rigid  and 
very  lean  form."  This  Firmian  demanded  that  the 
Salzburgers  should  give  up  their  Bibles,  but  "doff- 
ing their  slouch  hats,"  writes  Carlyle,  "almost  to 
mankind  in  general,  they  were  entirely  obstinate  as 
to  that  matter  of  the  Bible.  'Cannot,  Your  Rever- 
ence, must  not,  dare  not,'  and  went  to  prison,  and 
whithersoever  ordered."  And  thus  these  poor 
people,  than  whom  more  harmless  sons  of  Adam 
did  not  breathe  the  vital  air,  were  driven  from 
their  homes.  Within  the  hill  of  Salzburg,  the  Ger- 


122      JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE 

man  legend  hath  it,  and  the  simple  German  folk 
believe,  sits  the  greatest  Kaiser  time  has  ever 
known, — Friedrich  Barbarossa, — sits  there  at  a 
marble  table,  with  his  elbow  thereon,  not  dead,  but 
only  sleeping — indeed  "sits  winking,"  the  peasants 
believe,  only  half  sleeping — though  his  white  beard 
streams  down  on  the  floor;  and  when  his  people 
are  suffering  wrong,  and  are  driven  devilward,  the 
old  Kaiser  will  arise,  will  set  his  shield  aloft  and 
his  lance  at  rest,  and  on  Roncalic  fields  again  raise 
the  shout  of  battle,  and  charge  down  on  the  ene- 
mies of  the  people  he  once  ruled  and  loved.  Woe 
to  thee,  lean  Firmian,  and  thy  law  terriers,  mon- 
grels, whelps,  and  curs  of  low  degree,  had  the 
good  king  Barbarossa  had  his  slumbers  broken  by 
the  cries  of  the  ousted  Salzburgers,  the  hoary  old 
men,  the  women  and  the  children,  who  in  the  rigor 
of  winter  were  driven  from  their  homes.  But  they 
were  not  unfriended.  Vast  numbers  were  carried 
to  other  portions  of  North  Germany,  and  treated 
by  the  Prussian  King,  father  of  the  great  Fred- 
erick, with  the  utmost  kindness.  One  of  his  noble- 
men, this  rugged  son  of  Thor  hung  offhand  for 
cheating  these  poor  exiles.  "Come,  ye  poor  Salz- 
burgers, there  are  homes  provided  for  you,"  his 
proclamation  ran.  By  an  earnest  speech  in  the 
House  of  Commons  Oglethorpe  had  offered  them 
an  asylum  in  Georgia.  It  turned  out  that  forty- 
two  of  them,  with  their  families,  embarked  upon 
the  Main,  sailed  down  the  beautiful  Rhine,  reached 
Rotterdam,  thence  across  the  Channel  to  Dover, 
where  they  embarked  on  their  long  voyage  to  that 
new  land  beyond  the  broad  Atlantic,  where  each 
man  could  worship  God  according  to  the  dictates 
of  his  own  conscience.  Sermons  they  heard  on  the 


JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE      123 

text,  "And  every  one  that  hath  forsaken  houses,  or 
brethren,  or  sisters,  or  fathers,  or  mother,  or  wife, 
or  children,  or  lands,  for  my  name's  sake,  shall  re- 
ceive an  hundred  fold,  and  shall  inherit  everlasting 
life."  And  on  another  text,  "Now  the  Lord  hath 
said  unto  Abraham,  get  thee  out  of  thy  country, 
and  from  thy  kindred,  and  from  thy  father's  house, 
unto  a  land  that  I  will  show  thee."  "Excellent 
texts,"  wrote  Carlyle,  "well  handled,  let  us  hope — 
especially  with  brevity."  Oglethorpe  met  them  in 
Charleston,  and  took  them  to  Savannah.  As  the 
vessel  was  moored  near  the  landing-place,  the  in- 
habitants flocked  down  to  the  bank,  and  raised  a 
cheering  shout,  which  was  responded  with  much 
gladness  by  the  passengers  on  deck.  Some  of  them 
were  soon  taken  off  in  a  boat,  and  led  around  to 
the  town,  part  through  the  wood,  and  part  through 
the  newly  laid  out  garden  of  the  Trustees.  "Mean- 
while, a  right  good  feast  was  prepared  for  them, 
and  they  were  regaled  with  very  fine,  wholesome 
English  beer,  and  as  otherwise  much  love  and 
friendliness  was  shown  them  by  the  inhabitants, 
and  as  the  beautiful  situation  round  about  pleased 
them,  they  were  in  fine  spirits,  and  their  joy  was 
consecrated  by  praise  to  God." 

Their  noble  benefactor  soon  took  them  to  their 
new  home  up  the  river.  They  named  it  "Ebe- 
nezer."  How  deep  might  have  been  their  pious 
response  to  the  inspiration  of  the  old  hymn,  the 
melody  of  which  yet  rolls  away  in  song  worship, 
from  the  simple  country  churches  and  camp  meet- 
ings, through  the  aisles  of  Georgia  forests: 

"Here  I'll  raise  mine  Ebenezer, 
Hither  by  thy  help,  I'm  come; 
And  I  hope  by  thy  good  pleasure, 
Safely  to  arrive  at  home." 


i24      JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE 

These,  however,  were  not  the  last  nor  the  most 
effective  recruits  of  our  colonial  settlers.  Ogle- 
thorpe  was  essentially  a  fighting  man.  To  oppose 
the  renowned  infantry  of  Spain  he  needed  other 
fighting  men,  and  perhaps  nowhere  on  earth  was 
the  martial  spirit  stronger  or  more  prevalent  than 
in  the  romantic  Highlands  of  Scotland.  There, 
near  Inverness,  a  Lieutenant  Hugh  Mackey  was 
commissioned  to  bring  together  one  hundred  and 
ten  freemen  and  servants,  to  which  fifty  women 
and  children  were  allowed.  The  recruiting  was 
swiftly  done.  Many  of  these  brave  men  came  from 
the  Glen  Straldean,  about  nine  miles  from  Inver- 
ness, and  were  commanded  by  officers  whose  de- 
scendants still  hold  high  positions  of  honor  and 
trust  in  the  United  Kingdom  and  in  Ireland,  and 
in  our  own  country.  They  brought  with  them  their 
minister,  the  Reverend  John  McLeod.  George 
Dunbar  was  their  captain.  On  the  north  side. of 
the  Altamaha  they  built  a  village  and  named  it 
"New  Inverness."  To  the  most  intrepid  service 
to  their  adopted  country  in  colonial  and  revolu- 
tionary times,  these  gallant  Scotchmen  have  super- 
added  obedience  to  the  scriptural  injunction,  "mul- 
tiply and  replenish  the  earth."  Sometimes  when 
the  rolls  of  the  juries  and  grand  juries  of  the  courts 
of  the  United  States  in  south  Georgia  are  called 
the  answers  of  the  Mclntoshes,  McNeils,  Mcln- 
tyres,  McLains,Frazers,  Hamiltons,  Gordons,  and 
Grahams,  and  many  another  famous  Scottish  name, 
might  make  one  fancy  that  he  is  with  Waverly 
watching  Fergus  Mclver  and  his  clansmen  come 
down  the  glen,  or  hears  the  cry  "Scotland  forever" 
as  the  Scots  Greys  charged  home  at  Waterloo,  or 
"Highlanders,  shoulder  to  shoulder,"  heard  the 


JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE      125 

world  around  when  the  meteor  flag  of  England 
has  streamed  above  the  press  of  battle. 

"In  1738,"  writes  Carlyle,  "the  ear  of  Jenkins 
re-emerged  and  set  all  England  bellowing."  Seven 
years  before  this  most  portentous  of  all  ears  had 
been  sliced  off  by  a  Spanish  captain,  who  insolently 
told  the  English  sailor  to  show  it  to  his  king.  "All 
this  while,"  writes  Carlyle,  "Jenkins  had  been 
steadfastly  navigating  to  and  fro,  steadfastly  eat- 
ing tough  junk,  with  a  whetting  of  rum;  not  think- 
ing too  much  of  past  labors,  yet  privately  always 
keeping  his  lost  ear  in  cotton  (with  a  kind  of  ursine 
piety,  or  other  dumb  feeling),  no  mortal  now 
knows."  Other  causes  of  aggravation  were  not 
wanting,  and  the  English  people  were  ripe  for  war 
with  Spain.  Oglethorpe  made  it  plain  that  he  and 
his  colonists  would  be  on  the  firing-line.  Ogle- 
thorpe was  made  a  colonel,  and  was  authorized  to 
organize  and  command  a  regiment,  which  he  did, 
largely  at  his  own  expense.  He  was  made  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina 
also.  No  more  was  he  to  sleep  in  his  tent  under  the 
sighing  pines  above  the  Savannah.  He  had  es- 
tablished a  military  post  at  Frederica,  on  St.  Si- 
mons Island,  and  there  Charles  Wesley  had  gone 
with  his  patron.  It  does  not  appear  that  Ogle- 
thorpe ever  claimed  a  foot  of  land  in  that  State 
which  his  generosity  and  his  daring  established,  but 
where  the  military  road  connecting  Fort  St.  Simon 
with  Frederica  entered  the  wood,  he  built  him  a 
cottage.  "Magnificent  oaks,"  writes  Charles  Col- 
cock  Jones  in  his  valuable  History  of  Georgia,* 
"threw  their  protecting  shadows  above  and  around 


*Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.  ' 


126      JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE 

this  quiet  pleasant  abode.  Fanned  by  delicious 
sea  breezes,  fragrant  with  the  perfume  of  flowers, 
and  vocal  with  the  melody  and  song  of  birds.  To 
the  westward  and  in  full  view  were  the  fortifica- 
tions and  the  white  houses  of  Frederica.  Behind 
were  rows  of  dense  forest  oak."  A  description 
even  more  enchanting  of  this  locality,  which  is  but 
a  type  of  those  storied  islands  which  shelter  the 
coast  of  Georgia  from  the  thunderous  waves  of  the 
Atlantic,  is  given  by  Mrs.  Fanny  Kemble  Butler, 
the  renowned  actress,  who  in  ante-bellum  days  for 
a  time  shared  the  heart  and  home  of  her  husband, 
a  rice  planter  there.  "How  can  I  describe  to  you 
the  exquisite  spring  beauty  that  is  now  adorning 
these  woods,  the  variety  of  the  fresh  born  foliage, 
the  fragrance  of  the  sweet,  wild  perfumes  that  fill 
the  air?"  she  writes.  "Honeysuckles  twine  around 
every  tree.  The  ground  is  covered  with  a  low, 
white-blossomed  shrub,  more  fragrant  than  the 
lilies  of  the  valley.  Every  stump  is  like  a  classical 
altar  to  the  sylvan  gods,  garlanded  with  flowers; 
every  post,  or  stick,  or  slight  stem,  like  a  Bac- 
chante's thyrsus,  twined  with  wreathes  of  ivy  and 
wild  vine,  waving  in  the  tepid  wind.  Beautiful  but- 
terflies flicker  like  flying  flowers  among  the  bushes, 
and  gorgeous  birds,  like  winged  jewels,  dart  from 
the  boughs." 

Notwithstanding  these  natural  charms,  the  sweet 
soul  of  young  Wesley  might  soon  have  sorrowed  at 
the  thought  of  Bishop  Heber,  "Where  every  pros- 
pect pleases,  and  only  man  is  vile."  "With  what 
trembling,"  he  said,  "should  I  call  this  flock  mine." 
"On  Sunday  morning,"  he  said,  "he  preached  with 
boldness,  but  Oglethorpe  went  off  with  the  Indians 
to  hunt  buffalo."  Then  it  was  that  one  W.  M.  dis- 


JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE      127 

covered  to  the  chaplain  what  he  termed  "the  whole 
mystery  of  iniquity."  Two  damsels,  who  whipped 
their  waiting-maids,  talked  with  emphasis,  and 
carried  themselves  with  great  freedom,  claimed  to 
be  rivals  in  the  affections  of  the  forty-seven- 
year-old  bachelor,  the  commander-in-chief.  Wes- 
ley rapidly  fell  ill  with  excitement  and  anxiety. 
Then,  too,  the  doctor  would  hunt  on  Sunday,  and 
on  the  second  Sunday  atrociously  fired  off  a  gun 
during  sermon  time.  Wesley  had  the  doctor  ar- 
rested for  this  early  violation  of  the  Georgia  law 
which  in  this  day  denounces  the  offense  of  "disturb- 
ing a  congregation  lawfully  assembled  for  divine 
service."  When  the  doctor  was  arrested  for  shoot- 
ing off  his  gun,  one  of  the  offending  damsels  afore- 
said fired  a  gun  also,  and  wished  to  be  arrested,  but 
was  not.  When  Oglethorpe  returned  he  was  for 
a  time  very  angry  with  Wesley,  who  was  very  dis- 
consolate. "My  congregation,"  wrote  Wesley, 
"has  dwindled  to  two  Presbyterians  and  one  Papist, 
and  the  sandflies  are  an  infinite  torment."  John 
Wesley  comes,  but  does  not  help  matters.  Prob- 
ably both  brothers,  and  the  tale  bearers,  exagger- 
ated that  chivalric  and  courtly  bearing  toward  the 
gentler  sex,  on  the  part  of  the  commander-in-chief, 
which  he  had  doubtless  acquired  in  the  gay  camp 
of  Maryborough,  of  which  Thackeray  in  "Henry 
Esmond"  gives  such  a  lively  account.  Certain  it  is, 
according  to  Wesley  himself,  "Oglethorpe  soon, 
in  a  most  solemn  manner,  expressed  to  him  his  re- 
gret for  his  unkind  usage,"  and  to  demonstrate  his 
sincerity,  embraced  and  kissed  him  with  the  most 
cordial  affection.  The  reconciliation  was  not  with- 
out a  naive  diplomacy  and  a  trace  of  ambiguity 
on  the  part  of  our  hero.  "I  have  expected  death 


128      JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE 

for  some  days,"  he  said  to  his  chaplain.  "The 
Spaniards  intend  to  cut  us  off  at  a  blow.  I  fall  by 
my  friends.  But  death  is  to  me  nothing.  I  could 
clear  up  all,"  he  added,  "but  it  matters  not.  You 
will  soon  see  the  reason  of  my  actions."  "I  attend- 
ed him,"  said  Wesley,  "to  the  scout  boat,  where  he 
waited  some  minutes  for  his  sword.  They  brought 
him  the  first  and  a  second  time  a  mourning  sword. 
At  last  they  gave  him  his  own,  which  had  been  his 
father's.  'With  this  sword,'  says  he,  'I  was  never 
yet  unsuccessful.'  'I  hope,  sir,'  said  I,  'you  carry 
with  you  a  better,  even  the  sword  of  the  Lord  and 
of  Gideon.'  'I  hope  so,  too,'  "  he  added.  Wesley 
then  said,  "God  be  with  you.  Go  forth,  'Christo 
duce,  et  auspice  Christo.'  '  His  last  words  to  the 
people  were,  "God  bless  you  all."  The  boat  then 
carried  him  out  of  sight.  Wesley  interceded  for 
him,  that  God  would  save  him  from  death,  would 
wash  out  all  his  sins,  and  prepare  him  before  he 
took  the  sacrifice  to  himself.  Oglethorpe  never 
loved  John  Wesley  as  he  loved  Charles,  but  there 
is  an  old  story  to  the  effect  that  on  suddenly  meet- 
ing the  Founder  of  Methodism,  after  long  years, 
he  took  him  by  the  hand  and  kissed  him  and 
treated  him  with  the  utmost  deference  and  affec- 
tion. 

In  sight  of  his  home  at  Frederica  the  soldierly 
skill  of  Oglethorpe  and  the  daring  of  his  men  made 
him  victor  in  the  most  vital  struggle  which  ever 
took  place  on  the  soil  of  the  United  States,  between 
the  English  and  the  Latin-speaking  races.  "Half 
the  world,"  writes  Carlyle,  "was  hidden  in  embryo 
under  it.  The  incalculable  Yankee  nation  itself, 
the  greatest  phenomenon  of  these  ages.  This  too, 
little  as  careless  readers  on  cither  side  of  the  sea 


JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE      129 

now  know  it,  lay  involved.  Shall  there  be  a  Yankee 
nation  ?  Shall  the  New  World  be  of  Spanish  type  ? 
Shall  it  be  English?"  "Issues,"  wrote  this  strong- 
est thinker  of  the  nineteenth  century,  "which  we 
may  call  immense." 

From  Oglethorpe's  individual  report,  written 
while  the  smoke  of  battle  had  scarcely  drifted 
seaward  from  the  historic  sands  of  St.  Simon's 
Island,  we  gather  the  story  of  that  epochal  strug- 
gle. "The  Spaniards  came  sailing  up  the  coast  in 
a  fleet  of  more  than  fifty  vessels.  Their  army 
amounted  to  5,090  men."  Against  these  Ogle- 
thorpe  could  oppose  a  few  weak  merchant  vessels 
and  armed  boats  and  652  men  in  all.  "The  Span- 
iards," he  said,  "after  an  obstinate  engagement  of 
four  hours,  in  which  they  lost  many  men,  passed 
all  our  batteries  and  shipping,  and  got  out  of  shot 
from  them,  towards  Frederica.  Our  guardship 
was  disabled  and  sunk,  one  of  our  batteries  blown 
up,  also  some  of  our  men  on  board.  I  called  a 
council  of  war  at  the  head  of  the  regiment,  where 
it  was  unanimously  resolved  not  to  give  Frederica 
to  the  enemy.  On  the  7th,  a  party  of  theirs  marched 
toward  the  town.  Our  men  had  discovered  them, 
and  brought  an  account  of  their  march,  on  which  I 
advanced  with  a  party  of  Indians,  rangers,  and  the 
Highland  company,  ordering  the  regiment  to  fol- 
low, being  resolved  to  engage  them  in  the  defiles  of 
the  woods,  before  they  could  get  out  and  form  in 
the  open  ground.  I  charged  them  at  the  head  of 
our  Indians,  Highlandmen,  and  rangers,  and  God 
was  pleased  to  give  us  such  success,  that  we  en- 
tirely routed  the  first  party,  took  one  captain  pris- 
oner, and  killed  another,  and  pursued  them  two 
miles  to  an  open  meadow  or  savannah,  upon  the 


1 30      JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE 

edge  of  which  I  posted  three  platoons  of  the  regi- 
ment and  the  company  of  Highland  foot,  so  as  to 
be  covered  by  the  woods  from  the  enemy,  who  were 
obliged  to  pass  through  the  meadow  under  our  fire. 
This  disposition  was  very  fortunate.  Captain  An- 
tonio Barba  and  two  other  captains,  with  one  hun- 
dred grenadiers  and  two  hundred  foot,  besides  In- 
dians and  negroes,  advanced  from  the  Spanish 
navy  toward  the  Savannah,  and  fired  with  great 
spirit,  but  not  seeing  our  men  in  the  woods,  none 
of  their  shot  took  effect,  but  ours  did."  Generally, 
the  Spaniards  fired  so  much  at  random  that  the 
fields  were  strewn  with  the  balls  from  their  mus- 
kets. Their  losses  in  killed,  wounded,  and  prison- 
ers was  estimated  at  five  hundred.  The  loss  in 
Oglethorpe's  detachment  was  very  inconsiderable. 
To  this  day  the  scene  of  the  action  thus  described 
is  denominated  the  "Bloody  Marsh."  The  Span- 
iards, now  completely  demoralized,  retired  to 
Oglethorpe's  half-destroyed  fort,  but  by  a  strata- 
gem a  few  days  thereafter  they  were  expelled  there- 
from, took  to  their  ships,  and  never  returned.  It 
seems  almost  incredible  that  an  army  of  nearly  five 
thousand  Spanish  troops,  with  complete  control  of 
the  sea,  should  have  been  defeated  and  expelled 
from  the  colony,  by  a  force  of  between  six  and  seven 
hundred  men.  Said  the  renowned  Whitfield,  "The 
deliverance  of  Georgia  from  the  Spaniards  is  such 
that  it  may  not  be  paralleled,  but  by  some  instances 
out  of  the  Old  Testament.  Certain  it  is  that  this 
battle,  though  well-nigh  forgotten,  is  one  of  the 
most  glorious  and  decisive  in  the  annals  of  our 
country.  It  determined  that  North  America  should 
be  left  to  the  exploitation  of  the  Anglo-Saxon,  the 
Celtic,  and  the  Teutonic  races.  Had  success  at- 


JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE      131 

tended  the  Spaniards,  they  would  have  advanced 
on  the  more  northern  settlements."  General  Ogle- 
thorpe  received  from  the  Governors  of  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia, 
and  North  Carolina,  special  letters,  thanking  him 
for  the  invaluable  services  he  had  rendered  to  the 
British-American  provinces,  congratulating  him  on 
his  success,  the  great  renown  he  had  acquired,  and 
expressing  "their  gratitude  to  the  Supreme  Gov- 
ernor of  Nations  for  placing  the  affairs  of  the  colo- 
nies under  the  direction  of  a  general,  so  well  quali- 
fied for  the  important  trust." 

The  permanency  and  safety  of  the  colony  se- 
cured, Oglethorpe  in  1743  left  Georgia  to  return 
no  more.  He  repaired  to  his  ancestral  domain  in 
England,  and  was  there  welcomed  by  the  plaudits 
of  the  good  and  great  of  every  party.  Of  him 
Alexander  Pope  had  exclaimed: 

"Thy  great  example  shall  thro  ages  shine, 
A  favorite  theme  with  poet  and  divine, 
To  all  unborn  thy  merits  shall  proclaim, 
And  add  new  honors  to  thy  deathless  name." 

On  his  return  to  England,  with  the  usual  fate  of 
men  who  have  served  mankind  well,  Oglethorpe 
had  to  encounter  detraction,  one  Colonel  Cook, 
who  had  been  under  his  command,  being  the  de- 
tractor; but  a  court  martial  of  general  officers  pro- 
nounced all  the  charges  groundless,  false  and  mali- 
cious, and  at  their  request  the  King  expelled  Cook 
from  the  service.  The  father  of  Dr.  Oliver  Wen- 
dell Holmes  declared  that  his  character  now  "ap- 
peared in  resplendent  light." 

In  1744,  in  September  of  that  year,  Oglethorpe 
was  married,  and  for  the  first  time.  He  was  now 
fifty-six  years  of  age.  His  bride  was  Elizabeth 


132      JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE 

Wright,  the  daughter  and  heiress  of  Sir  Nathan 
Wright,  of  Cranham  Hall.  It  is  significant  that  as 
early  as  1728,  another  Wesley,  in  persuasive  verse, 
had  exhorted  Oglethorpe  to  marry: 

"  Tis  single,  'tis  imperfect  light, 

The  world,  from  worth  unwedded,  shares; 
He  only  shines  completely  bright, 
Who  leaves  his  virtues  to  his  heirs 

With  joy  his  summons  I  attend, 

And  fly  with  speed  away ; 
Let  but  the  patriot  condescend 

To  fix  his  marriage  day." 

His  marriage  was  a  happy  one,  and  a  friend  of 
the  family,  writing  to  the  Gentleman's  Magazine, 
after  Mrs.  Oglethorpe's  death,  gently  observes 
that  uto  her  magnanimity  and  prudence,  on  an  oc- 
casion of  much  difficulty,  it  was  owing  that  the 
evening  of  their  lives  was  tranquil  and  pleasant." 

He  commanded  a  division  of  the  British  Army 
to  repel  the  invasion  of  Prince  Charlie  in  1745. 
His  military  career  ended  with  that  campaign  and 
with  a  quarrel  with  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  "the 
butcher  of  Culloden,"  who  treated  him  most  un- 
justlv.  Oglethorpe  was  again  exonerated  by  his 
brotner  officers,  with  the  approval  of  the  King,  but 
he  never  held  military  command  again.  It  is  a 
most  interesting  fact  that  General  Lachlan  Mac- 
intosh, who  was  one  of  the  foremost  men  in  the 
siege  of  Savannah  in  1778,  had  been  prevented  by 
Oglethorpe's  kindly  admonition  from  leaving 
Georgia  to  join  the  Pretender.  Oglethorpe  was 
now  a  very  old  man.  The  noble  veteran  had  ever 
been  a  favorite  with  the  ladies.  His  graceful  man- 
ners and  charming  gifts  as  a  conversationalist  and 
raconteur  were  most  fascinating  to  that  apprecia- 


JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE      133 

tive  sex  even  in  his  extreme  old  age.  In  a  letter  to 
her  sister  in  1784,  Hannah  Moore  wrote:  "I  have 
got  a  new  admirer;  it  is  the  famous  General  Ogle- 
thorpe,  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  man  of  his 
time.  He  was  foster  brother  to  the  Pretender; 
and  is  much  above  ninety  years  old,  the  finest  figure 
you  ever  saw.  He  perfectly  realizes  all  my  ideas 
of  Nestor.  His  literature  is  great;  his  knowledge 
of  the  world  extensive;  and  his  faculties  as  bright 
as  ever.  He  is  one  of  the  three  persons  still  living 
who  were  mentioned  by  Pope ;  Lord  Mansfield  and 
Lord  Marchmont  were  the  other  two.  He  was  the 
intimate  friend  of  Southern,  the  tragic  poet,  and  all 
the  wits  of  that  time.  He  is  perhaps  the  oldest 
man  of  a  Gentleman  living.  I  went  to  see  him  the 
other  day,  and  he  would  have  entertained  me  by 
repeating  passages  from  Sir  Eldred.  He  is  quite 
a  preux  chevalier,  heroic,  romantic,  and  full  of  the 
old  gallantry."  Mr.  Bancroft  must  have  had  this 
passage  in  mind,  when  he  afterwards  wrote  of  the 
Founder  of  Georgia:  "In  a  commercial  period,  a 
monarchist  in  the  state,  and  friendly  to  the  church, 
he  seemed  even  in  youth  like  the  relic  of  a  more 
chivalrous  century.  His  life  was  prolonged  to 
near  five  score;  and  even  in  the  last  year  of  it  he 
was  extolled  as  'the  finest  figure  ever  seen,'  the  im- 
personation of  venerable  age;  his  faculties  were 
bright,  his  eye  undimmed;  heroic,  romantic,  and 
full  of  the  old  gallantry,  he  was  like  the  sound  of 
the  lyre,  as  it  still  vibrates  after  the  spirit  that 
sweeps  its  strings  has  passed  away." 

His  long  life  had  been  epochal.  Its  youth  was 
marked  by  great  events.  It  was  an  age  of  incom- 
parable mental  activity.  Peter  the  Great,  barbar- 
ian and  giant,  laid  the  foundation  of  that  semi- 


i34      JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE 

Asiatic  power  of  whose  people  Napoleon  in  after 
years  declared,  "Scratch  a  Russian  and  you  find  a 
Tartar."  Oglethorpe  took  part  in  the  gigantic 
wars  succeeding  the  English  Revolution.  The  me- 
teoric career  of  Charles  XII  of  Sweden,  who  was 
but  two  years  older,  was  ended  by  a  shot  through 
the  brain  at  the  siege  of  Friedrikshall,  when  Ogle- 
thorpe was  thirty.  It  was  the  age  when  from  the 
shores  of  Lake  Leman,  Voltaire  was  sending  forth 
those  excruciating  messages  which  at  times,  in  the 
words  of  Macaulay,  "were  used  to  vindicate  jus- 
tice, humanity  and  toleration,  the  principles  of 
sound  philosophy,  and  the  principles  of  free  gov- 
ernment," but  at  others  "to  crush  and  torture  ene- 
mies, worthy  only  of  silent  disdain,  and  to  destroy 
the  last  solace  of  earthly  misery,  and  the  last  re- 
straint on  earthly  power."  It  was  the  age  of  the 
last  of  the  great  kings,  Frederick  of  Prussia.  When 
this  illustrious  monarch  was  born,  on  the  I4th  of 
January,  1712,  Oglethorpe  was  sixteen  years  old, 
and  when  Frederick  died  in  1786,  not  only  had 
Georgia  grown  to  be  a  State,  but  the  independence 
of  all  America  had  been  for  three  years  established. 
In  literature  he  connected  the  age  of  Addison,  Pope 
and  Swift  with  the  age  of  Goldsmith  and  Johnson; 
in  forensic  oratory  the  age  of  Somers  with  the  age 
of  Erskine ;  in  constructive  statesmanship  the  age 
of  Halifax  and  Burnet  with  that  of  Alexander 
Hamilton  and  Thomas  Jefferson.  He  was  born 
before  the  Declaration  of  Rights,  and  died  nineteen 
years  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Had 
he  lived  four  years  longer  he  would  have  connected 
the  reign  of  William  of  Orange  with  the  Presiden- 
cy of  George  Washington.  The  Duke  of  Marl- 
borough,  from  whom  he  obtained  his  first  commis- 


JAMES  FDW.  OGLETHORPE      135 

sion,  was  now  dead  for  sixty  years.  Prince  Eu- 
gene, with  whom  he  had  served  in  the  famous  cam- 
paigns with  the  Turks,  had  been  dead  for  fifty 
years.  The  grandchildren  of  his  contemporaries 
were  now  old  men.  His  own  grand-nephew  was  a 
general  officer  in  France.  He  had  been  an  intimate 
associate  with  the  greatest  Englishmen  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Most  of  these  were  now  dead. 
Oglethorpe,  when  he  met  John  Adams,  was  ninety- 
seven  years  of  age,  and  was  to  live  four  months 
longer.  Samuel  Johnson  had  died  in  1784  at  the 
age  of  seventy-four;  Oglethorpe,  who  was  then 
ninety-six,  relishedlife  still  and  had  more  than  seven 
months  to  live.  He  was  seen  and  sketched  while 
reading  at  the  sale  of  Dr.  Johnson's  books,  and 
Samuel  Rogers,  who  was  then  a  boy  of  twenty- 
two,  used  to  tell  how  he  looked:  "Very,  very  old, 
and  his  skin  altogether  like  parchment;  the  young- 
sters whispered  with  awe  that  in  youth  he  had  shot 
snipe  in  Conduit  Street,  near  the  corner  of  Bond." 
Well  might  it  be  said  of  him,  in  the  beautiful  verse 
of  Dr.  Holmes: 

"The  mossy  marbles  rest 
On  the  lips  he  has  pressed 

In  their  bloom, 

And  the  names  he  loved  to  hear 
Have  been  carved  for  many  a  year 

On  the  tomb." 

Of  this  great  man,  to  whom  religious  freedom 
and  the  English  race  are  probably  indebted  for  ex- 
istence as  dominant  forces  upon  the  American  con- 
tinent, no  adequate  memorial  is  preserved.  To  me 
he  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  ennobling 
characters  of  whom  the  annals  of  time  give  an  ac- 
count. He  did  not  live  for  himself,  but  for  others. 


i36      JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE 

It  has  been  the  unvarying  custom  of  all  nations 
who  possessed  a  worthy  past  or  hopeful  future, 
to  illumine  the  minds  and  evolve  the  patriotism  of 
their  young  men,  by  the  storied  marble  and  endur- 
ing bronze  which  commemorate  the  virtues  of 
their  heroes,  their  benefactors,  their  statesmen, 
and  their  philosophers.  The  wooded  heights  of 
Mount  Hymettus  cast  their  shadows  on  countless 
statues,  chiseled  by  the  genius  of  Grecian  sculpture, 
perpetuating  for  the  youth  of  Athens  the  great  who 
lived  and  died  for  the  City  of  the  Violet  Crown. 
On  the  rock,  hallowed  by  the  foot  of  the  patriot, 
when  he  sprang  from  the  bark  of  Gessler,  stands 
the  statue  of  William  Tell.  In  the  dim  religious 
light  of  the  Cathedral  in  Innsbruck,  the  peasant  of 
the  Tyrol  may  drop  the  tear  of  piety  and  patriot- 
ism at  the  monumental  shrine  consecrated  to  the 
memory  of  Andrew  Hoffer ;  and  when  the  first  light 
of  the  morning  sun  glorifies  the  white  dome  and 
the  marble  porticoes  of  the  Capitol  at  Washington, 
with  equal  ray  it  casts  on  the  placid  bosom  of  the 
Potomac,  the  shadow  of  that  towering  monument 
erected  by  Americans  to  commemorate  the  love 
and  veneration  which  will  forever  animate  them 
for  the  Father  of  his  Country.  In  the  annals  of 
the  English-speaking  race — glorious  as  they  are, 
with  the  names  of  the  illustrious,  the  patriotic  and 
the  good — there  is  none  more  deserving  an  im- 
perishable monument  than  James  Edward  Ogle- 
thorpe. 


OFFICIAL   REPORT   OF   DON    MANUEL 

MONTIANO,  SPANISH  COMMANDER 

OF  THE  EXPEDITION  AGAINST 

GEORGIA  IN   1742. 

The  following  is  a  translation  of  the  official  re- 
port of  Don  Manuel  Montiano,  Governor  of 
Florida  and  Commandant-General  of  the  expedi- 
tion against  Georgia  in  1742.  It  presents  with 
much  naivete  the  Spanish  view  of  the  famous 
fight,  and  is  of  especial  interest  from  the  fact  that 
it  is  published  here  for  the  first  time  in  this  coun- 
try. The  incapacity  of  the  Spaniards  high  in  au- 
thority at  that  time,  when  Spain  still  held  the  re- 
spect and  awe  of  the  other  nations  of  Europe,  is 
apparent.  It  may  be  said  to  mark  the  beginning 
of  their  national  degeneracy,  or  at  least  its  revela- 
tion to  other  nations : 

"General  Archives  of  the  Indies: 
"Audience  Chamber  of  Santo  Domingo: 

"Louisiana  and  Florida. 

"Letter  of  Don  Manuel  Montiano,  Governor  of 
Florida  and  Commandant-General  of  the  ex- 
pedition against  the  English  established  in 
Georgia  and  Carolina,  reporting  on  the  oc- 
currences and  results  of  that  expedition. 
"Florida,  August  3,  1742. 
"Very  Dear  Sir: 

"I  send  to  your  Honor  the  enclosed  information, 
so  that  your  Honor  may  be  pleased  to  place  it  in 
the  hands  of  the  Royal  and  Supreme  Council  of  the 
Indies,  that  they  may  take  notice  of  its  contents. 

187 


i38      JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE 

"Your  Honor  will  find  me  at  your  orders  with 
an  unchangeable  and  sure  affection,  wishing  to  ex- 
ercise myself  in  any  way  that  may  be  to  the  satis- 
faction of  your  Honor,  and  trusting  that  our 
Lord  will  guard  your  Honor  for  many  happy 
years. 

"St.  Augustine,  Florida,  August  3,  1742. 
"I  kiss  the  hands  of  your  Honor, 
"Your  most  devoted  servant, 
(Signed)     "DoN  MANUEL  MONTIANO. 
"To  Senor  Fernando  Trivino. 


"SlR — In  a  letter  of  October  3ist  of  last  year 
1  was  informed  by  Sr.  Jose  del  Campillo,  that  your 
Majesty,  having  resolved  to  make  up  in  Havana 
an  army  with  which  to  harass  Carolina  and  her  de- 
pendencies, this  order  was  communicated  to  me  by 
order  of  your  Majesty,  the  object  being  for  me  to 
give  to  the  Lieutenant-General,  Sr.  Juan  Francisco 
de  Guemes  and  Horcasitas,  Governor  of  Havana, 
all  the  information  that  I  could  obtain,  helping  to 
facilitate  the  most  happy  end  of  this  Royal  Dispo- 
sition; and,  having  executed  the  same  with  all  cor- 
responding promptness,  I  was  explicit  in  stating  to 
said  Lieutenant-General,  Governor  of  Havana, 
that  he  might  command  me  for  any  purpose  that 
he  might  choose  to  use  me  in  the  service  of  your 
Majesty;  consequently,  on  the  I4th  day  of  May  he 
communicated  to  me  by  letter  brought  by  an  officer 
of  that  garrison  in  a  small  vessel,  that  my  person 
had  been  selected  for  the  command  of  the  expedi- 
tion that  had  been  determined  on,  the  letter  con- 
taining particular  commissions  and  advices  condu- 
cive to  the  most  advantageous  service  of  your 
Majesty,  and  stating  that  the  army  was  ready  to 


JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE       139 

start,  and  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  in  the  se- 
cret Council  of  War  that  took  place  between  my- 
self and  the  naval  and  land  officers  of  that  fortified 
town,  the  Royal  design  and  wishes  of  your  Majesty 
were  considered  impracticable  on  account  of  the 
insufficient  maritime  strength  of  the  fleet  under  the 
command  of  the  Lieutenant-General,  Don  Rodrigo 
de  Torres,  it  was  decided  in  <;he  meantime  that  it 
was  necessary  to  undertake  some  operation  against 
Georgia  for  the  purpose  of  getting  satisfaction  in 
part  for  the  insults  and  treachery  attempted  and 
committed  by  the  actions  of  those  Provinces,  and 
on  account  of  the  indisputable  rights  of  your 
Majesty  to  them. 

"Said  Lieutenant-General  having  sent  ahead  a 
convoy  of  ten  small  vessels,  with  some  small  force 
of  militia  convoyed  by  a  galley,  on  the  6th  day  of 
June  they  met  an  English  Coast  Guard  vessel  of 
twenty-four  cannon,  that  with  her  artillery,  long 
boat  and  small  boats,  attacked  some  of  the  before- 
mentioned  small  vessels,  and  the  galley,  not  being 
able  to  help  them  all,  they  were  in  considerable 
danger,  so  much  so  that  two  of  them  found  it  nec- 
essary to  run  ashore,  in  one  of  which  they  killed 
a  Lieutenant  of  Artillery  and  a  Corporal  and 
wounded  a  Lieutenant  of  Militia,  and  they  (the 
English),  having  attempted  to  send  a  boat  to  take 
the  grounded  sloop,  our  troops  that  were  then 
ashore  began  to  fire  on  them  to  such  effect  that 
they  compelled  the  men  of  the  English  vessel  to 
ask  for  quarter,  and  an  officer  and  eighteen  sailors 
were  taken  prisoners. 

"On  the  1 5th  of  said  month  they  happily  arrived 
off  this  bar,  conducted  by  Colonel  Don  Francisco 
Rubiani,  and  on  account  of  their  being  short  of 


i4o      JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE 

water  and  on  account  of  the  severe  thunderstorms 
and  strong  winds,  that  cost  us  some  damage,  and 
because  of  the  wrecking  of  a  long  boat  in  which 
were  drowned  a  Chaplain  and  some  sailors,  I 
could  not  leave  this  Port  until  the  23d  of  the  same 
month,  and  the  wind  having  been  on  that  day 
North  East,  I  had  to  postpone  my  sailing  until 
the  first  of  July,  on  which  day  I  sailed  with  all 
the  vessels  that  composed  the  armament. 

"I  proceeded  to  Georgia,  and,  finding  myself  on 
the  2nd  day  in  its  vicinity,  we  were  attacked 
from  the  South  by  a  furious  South  East  storm,  that 
scattered  us  all  about,  without  human  remedy  to 
avoid  it.  We  remained  scattered  for  many  days, 
and  having  gathered  together  again  the  greatest 
part,  with  the  exception  of  four  small  galleys,  four 
Peraguas,  two  schooners,  two  long  boats  and  one 
boat,  we  anchored  on  the  loth  day  in  view  of  the 
Port  of  Gualquini,*  where  we  remained  without 
being  able  to  advance  to  it  on  account  of  contrary 
winds,  until  the  i6th  day,  on  which  we  gloriously 
effected  an  entrance  to  the  Port,  without  any  losses 
more  than  five  men  against  the  land  and  sea  forces 
following. 

"At  the  entrance  of  the  Port  was  a  fort  built  of 
Earthf  with  grassy  sides,  with  parapets  of  brick, 
in  the  shape  of  a  horseshoe,  which  contained  a 
mortar  of  bronze  to  throw  bombs,  and  five  Royal 
hand  grenades,  and  in  its  vicinity  was  located  a 
breastwork,  with  three  cannon,  which  defended 
the  entrance;  at  a  distance  of  two  musket  shots 
and  to  the  West  was  another  square  fort,  with  four 

*St.  Simon's  Sound. 
tFort  St.  Simon's. 


JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE       141 

bastions  built  in  the  middle  of  the  walls,  con- 
structed of  fat  timber  and  of  earth,  with  a  ditch 
around  it  six  and  a  half  feet  in  width  and  four  feet 
deep.  Upon  the  parapets  ran  pits  of  terraced 
casks,  and  sown  with  prickly  pears,  which  covered 
the  parapets,  and  on  the  interior  was  extended  a 
row  of  palisades  to  prevent  a  surprise,  in  which 
were  mounted  seven  cannon,  three  of  which  were 
eighteen-pounders,  and  six  mortars  and  hand  gren- 
ades, and  between  the  first  and  second  fortress  they 
had  raised  breastworks,  with  five  cannon;  and  to 
the  West  of  those  forts  was  another  breastwork  in 
circular  form,  for  the  purpose  of  inflicting  injury 
with  musket  fire. 

"Within  the  Port  and  between  the  distances  of 
the  described  forts  was  a  frigate  of  twenty-four 
cannon;  to  the  East  followed  a  schooner  of  four- 
teen guns;  after  that  was  a  sloop  of  ten  guns,  and 
next  to  that  there  were  in  line  eight  sloops  and 
schooners  well  equipped  with  men,  who  were  em- 
ployed in  the  handling  of  muskets  for  defending 
the  entrance,  but,  notwithstanding  these,  we  pos- 
sessed ourselves  of  the  Port  and  anchored  at  about 
5  in  the  afternoon. 

"Immediately  I  ordered  all  the  troops  to  land, 
allowing  the  enemy  no  chance  to  regain  strength 
from  the  discouragement  to  which  our  victory  had 
brought  them,  and  we  did  this,  happily,  without 
opposition,  and  on  the  break  of  next  morning  I 
started  marching,  all  of  us  resolved  to  advance 
against  the  first  fort,  having  previously  ordered  a 
few  Indians  to  advance  to  watch  the  condition  and 
movements  of  our  enemy,  and  they  having  returned 
with  the  news  of  not  having  found  any  one,  the 
Major-General,  Don  Antonio  de  Arredondo,  ad- 


142      JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE 

vanced  to  ascertain  this  for  himself,  and  for  fur- 
ther certainty  I  ordered  two  companies  of  Grena- 
diers* to  advance  for  the  purpose  of  reconnoiter- 
ing  more  exactly  and  determining  for  themselves 
if  that  was  a  movement  of  the  retiring  enemy,  and 
it  having  been  confirmed,  I  continued  my  march  up 
to  their  fortifications,  which  I  immediately  occu- 
pied, leaving  the  necessary  guards  and  placing 
some  pickets  at  places  that  appeared  to  be  paths 
or  openings  in  the  woods,  for  the  purpose  of  stop- 
ping any  inroad  that  they  may  have  intended  to 
carry  out. 

"The  Indians  and  Grenadiers  brought  with  them 
two  prisoners,  who  confirmed  the  running  away  of 
General  Oglethorpe  to  the  town  of  Frederica,  dis- 
tant about  two  leagues  from  the  Gualquini  forts, 
and,  while  I  could  have  followed  to  his  retreat,  I 
did  not  think  it  prudent  to  do  so  until  I  could  be 
fully  acquainted  with  the  roads  and  lands  through 
which  I  had  to  march — intelligently — to  which 
end  I  thought  it  convenient  to  go  to  Frederica 
Town  by  two  sides  at  one  time.  I  sent  the  Captain 
of  the  Pickets  of  this  Garrison,  Don  Sebastian  San- 
chez, as  a  man  who  had  been  at  that  place,  with 
fifty  men,  to  reconnoiter  the  roads  leading  to  the 
dock-yard  (careening  place),  where  appeared  to 
be  a  suitable  place  for  the  landing  of  our  artillery; 
at  the  same  time  I  sent  by  the  road  that  goes  direct 
to  Frederica  the  Captain  of  the  Mountain  Militia, 
Don  Nicolas  Hernandez,  with  twenty-five  rnen 
from  his  troops  and  forty  Indians,  to  make  an  ex- 
amination of  it,  and,  it  happening  that  Don  Sebas- 
tian Sanchez  mistook  the  road  that  he  was  to 


*This  was  a  regiment  of  Cuban  negroes  raised  in  Havana — 
probably  the  first  negro  soldiers  ever  in  service  in  this  country. 


JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE       143 

travel  and  meeting  with  Don  Nicolas  Hernandez, 
both  continued  in  one  body  to  the  town,  in  the 
vicinity  of  which  they  were  attacked  by  the  English 
troops  and  Indians  on  the  edge  of  the  woods  where 
it  was  very  thick,  which  accident  was  the  cause  of 
much  unavoidable  confusion,  in  which  we  suffered 
the  loss  of  two  Captains  and  eleven  soldiers  taken 
prisoners,  ten  wounded  and  twelve  killed,  and, 
having  been  advised  of  what  had  taken  place,  I  or- 
dered three  companies  of  Grenadiers  forward  to 
succor  our  troops  and  to  secure  their  retreat,  but 
before  the  Grenadiers  had  arrived  at  the  place 
where  the  former  were  attacked,  they  were  also 
attacked  in  another  ambush,  surrounded  by  a 
marsh,*  where  there  was  no  other  road  than  for 
the  one  man  at  a  time,  and  the  Captain  of  the 
Grenadiers,  knowing  that  they  could  not  do  any 
better  than  to  sacrifice  the  troops,  they  continued 
to  fight  with  renewed  courage,  as  they  could  not 
see  who  was  shooting  at  them,  nor  did  the  ground 
allow  any  movement  of  the  troops,  they  resolved 
to  make  a  retreat  in  the  best  possible  order,  having 
lost  Don  Miguel  Bucareli  and  six  officers  killed. 

"The  Captain  of  the  Mountain  Militia,  Don 
Nicolas  Hernandez,  taking  advantage  of  the  little 
precaution  taken  to  tie  him  up  by  the  two  soldiers 
in  charge  of  him,  unfastened  himself,  and  they, 
having  seen  this  action,  attempted  to  tie  him  up 
better  by  the  arms,  but  at  this  moment,  without 
giving  them  time  to  do  it,  as  a  brave  and  courage- 
ous man  he  threw  himself  on  one  of  the  two,  tak- 
ing his  sword  from  him  and  killing  him,  and  then 
killed  the  other  one,  thus  freeing  himself  and  re- 


*Bloody  Marsh. 


144      JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE 

turning  to  our  camp  four  days  after  his  escape. 
This  Captain  and  some  of  his  men,  being  from  the 
mountains  and  raised  in  the  mountains,  were  so 
tired  out  in  the  woods  that  they  believed  they  were 
going  to  lose  their  lives  before  finding  the  road. 

"With  this  information,  and  that  brought  by  the 
Captain  of  Grenadiers  and  our  Indians,  they  saying 
positively  that  the  woods  were  impassable  and  full 
of  marshes  and  ponds,  and  considering  in  the  mean- 
time the  representations  made  by  the  Minister  of 
the  Royal  Treasury,  Don  Antonio  de  la  Atora,  re- 
marking the  probable  exhaustion  of  the  provisions 
and  that  they  had  to  arrange  the  necessary  ones  for 
the  retreat,  and  that  there  were  no  more  (provi- 
sions) than  would  barely  last  to  the  end  of  August, 
and  being  of  no  less  consideration  the  stormy 
months  of  August  and  September,  the  maritime 
forces  that  were  then  in  Carolina  superior  to  ours 
that  we  learned  from  the  statements  of  the  pris- 
oners taken  were  daily  expected  by  General  Ogle- 
thorpe,  and  that  with  our  delays  originated  by  the 
storms,  the  finding  of  the  galley  and  the  small  con- 
voy, and  having  maintained  ourselves  on  its  course, 
it  could  with  some  foundation  be  of  the  mind  to 
attack  us,  and  had  time  enough  to  get  prepared 
for  it  and  to  obtain  the  proper  necessaries,  the 
great  need  of  the  thirteen  small  vessels  that  had 
not  come  back  to  us,  among  which  were  four  Gal- 
liots, some  troops  arid  all  the  Sappers,  without  the 
troops  and  the  said  small  boats  any  operation  by 
land  was  impracticable,  and  also  by  the  rivers  to  a 
distance  of  little  more  than  two  leagues,  and  con- 
sidering lastly  the  especial  instructions  from  the 
Lieutenant-General,  Don  Juan  Francisco  de 
Guemes  and  Horcasitas,  to  the  very  important  end 


JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE       145 

of  securing  the  retreat  of  the  troops  on  account  of 
the  important  need  that  we  had  of  them  in  the 
fortified  towns  of  Havana  and  Florida,  I  convoked 
a  Council  of  War  of  the  Commandants  and  high- 
est officers  of  the  army,  laying  before  them  all  the 
reasons  and  motives  that  impelled  me  to  call  them 
together.  I  asked  them  to  express  their  judgment 
on  what  was  necessary  to  be  done  in  the  situation 
in  which  we  were  placed,  and  they  said  they  were 
of  the  opinion  that  there  was  no  better  way  than 
to  reconnoiter  the  river  that  goes  up  to  Frederica 
Town  and  see  if  there  was  a  place  where  the  troops 
and  artillery  could  land  for  the  purpose  of  attack- 
ing the  Fort  and  Frederica  Town,  which  proceed- 
ings could  be  carried  into  effect  while  the  vessels 
were  supplying  themselves  with  water,  but  they 
had  to  bear  in  mind  that  even  if  there  was  a  favor- 
able place  to  land,  we  could  not  engage  ourselves 
in  any  siege  that  would  require  more  than  six  days, 
considering  the  news  given  us  that  there  were  not 
sufficient  provisions  to  last  longer  than  the  end  of 
August,  calling  for  economy;  all  these  things  were 
of  such  gravity  that  they  obliged  us  to  think  of 
nothing  else  than  to  retreat  to  our  fortified  town, 
thus  avoiding  the  danger  that,  with  the  delay,  was 
threatening  us,  and  in  consequence  of  these  opin- 
ions the  Engineer  of  Ordnance,  Don  Pedro  Ruiz 
de  Olano,  passed  with  the  Galley  and  two  Galliots, 
to  reconnoiter  as  suggested,  and  he  proceeded  up 
to  within  rifle  shot  of  Frederica  without  finding  a 
place  appropriate  for  landing  the  troops  on  ac- 
count of  all  the  shore  of  the  River  Sienga  and  Zac- 
atel*  being  of  soft  or  sinking  ground,  and  only 

*The  south  branch  of  the  Altamaha  River,  flowing  to  the 
west  of  St.  Simon's  Island  to  St.  Simon's  Sound. 


146      JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE 

within  a  cannon  shot  he  thought  he  could  see  a 
clear  place,  on  which  he  thought  the  troops  could 
be  landed,  but  considering  that  with  such  known 
danger  of  exposing  our  troops  to  a  great  loss  and 
principally  not  having  been  able  to  determine  if 
there  was  any  battery,  intrenchments  or  breast- 
works there  or  not,  I  did  not  find  it  convenient  to 
decide  myself  to  engage  in  an  operation  so  evi- 
dently hazardous.  Notwithstanding  this,  I  sus- 
pended my  determination  until  I  could  call  a  Coun- 
cil of  War  principally  because  at  break  of  this  day 
a  deserter  arrived  at  our  camp  and  declared  that 
General  Oglethorpe  had  marched  all  night  with 
five  hundred  men  to  surprise  us  before  daylight, 
and  taking  into  consideration  the  instructions  re- 
ceived from  the  State,  and  the  strength  of  Ogle- 
thorpe, said  to  consist  of  one  thousand  men,  one- 
half  of  whom  were  taken  from  his  own  regiment 
and  the  rest  consisting  of  Country  people  and  In- 
dians, that  the  town  of  Frederica  had  a  battery 
looking  to  the  river,  with  a  small  artillery  of 
eighteen-pounders,  with  mortars  and  bombs  and 
Royal  Grenades;  that  on  the  shores  of  the  river 
near  the  town  there  were  breastworks  where  he 
could  place  his  men  under  protection  to  oppose  our 
landing,  and  on  the  other  hand  was  another  cannon 
with  which  it  was  not  difficult  to  penetrate  our  ves- 
sels. He  had  built  a  battery  of  mortars,  garri- 
soned with  some  troops,  and  added  that  they  were 
depending  on  the  thickness  of  the  woods  and  the 
marshes  of  the  Island  for  their  defense.  He  also 
declared  that  he  (Oglethorpe)  was  waiting  for  aid 
of  men  and  vessels,  and  that  those  of  Carolina  could 
not  be  very  long  in  arriving,  as  well  as  those  of 
Virginia  and  Philadelphia,  on  account  of  his  hav- 


JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE       147 

ing  dispatched  couriers  to  all  parts  on  account  of 
the  fear  he  had,  which  was  caused  by  the  finding  of 
the  Galley  and  small  convoy  of  vessels  at  Cape 
Canaveral,  this  having  been  confirmed  by  having 
seen  our  armament  for  such  a  length  of  time  on 
this  coast. 

"A  few  hours  after  the  deserter  arrived  and 
while  getting  ready  to  form  the  second  Council  of 
War,  the  advance  guards  of  the  Navy  and  the  look- 
out on  the  mastheads  of  the  ships  informed  us 
that  there  were  arriving  into  Port  three  square- 
rigged  ships,  a  one-masted  schooner  and  a  sloop. 
This  information  compelled  me  to  suspend  the 
Council  of  War  and  only  take  counsel  from  the 
Colonel,  Don  Francisco  Rubiani,  and  from  the 
Lieutenant-Colonel,  Don  Antonio  Salgado,  and 
from  the  Major-General,  Don  Antonio  Arredon- 
do,  who  were  of  the  opinion  that  we  had  to  place 
all  our  attention  on  the  retreat,  as  there  was  a 
good  probability  that  Oglethorpe  would  attack 
us  by  land  as  well  as  with  his  ships  by  water,  and 
therefore  I  ordered  that  all  the  troops  should  pass 
to  the  Island  over  the  other  side,*  thus  giving  time 
to  our  ships  to  take  provisions  and  be  relieved  and 
ready  for  their  defense,  and  that  the  smaller  ves- 
sels in  the  meantime,  while  I  was  marching  with 
the  troops  by  land,  should  enter  by  the  River  Bal- 
lenasf  and  wait  for  me  on  the  bar  of  the  same 
name,  where  I  wanted  to  take  ship  and  go  to  take 
and  demolish  Fort  St.  Andrews,!  and  having 

*Jekyl  Island. 

ISt.    Andrew's    Sound,    between    Cumberland    and    Jekyl 
Islands. 
JOn  Cumberland  Island. 


148       JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE 

put  this  plan  into  effect,  I  found  it  empty,  with 
one  four-pound  cannon,  three  swivel  guns  and 
some  war  stores,  and  a  number  of  horses,  which 
were  killed. 

"From  here  to  act  quickly  I  ordered  to  land,  while 
the  vessels  were  finishing  their  arriving,  the  small 
vessels,  with  the  provisions  needed,  and  two  hun- 
dred men  to  occupy  Fort  San  Pedro,*  which  the 
previous  night  fired  on  the  four  Galliots,  long  boats 
and  Peraguas,  which  had  been  separated  from  us 
by  the  storm  and  were  now  coming  in  to  be  incor- 
porated with  us,  but  finding  myself  without  pro- 
visions because  the  vessels  that  were  carrying  them 
were  sailing  on  the  outside  in  the  direction  of 
Florida,  I  thought  it  more  advisable  to  prefer  the 
transport  of  the  troops  to  this  fortified  town  as 
quickly  as  possible,  rather  than  stopping  without 
provisions;  therefore  I  ordered  the  vessels  to  sail 
by  the  Bar  of  Ballenas,  and  I,  with  the  four  Gal- 
liots, long  boats  and  Peraguas,  kept  on  the  inside 
of  the  river  to  reconnoiter  said  Fort  of  San  Pedro, 
as  it  may  be  important  later  on,  and  having  done 
so,  notwithstanding  the  fire  from  it,  to  which  I 
ordered  the  four  Galliots  to  answer,  I  continued 
my  trip,  arriving  as  far  as  the  River  St.  John, 
whence  by  land  I  arrived  at  this  place  on  the  ist 
instant,  where  I  found  that  all  the  troops  that 
shipped  on  the  vessels  that  came  by  the  outside  had 
arrived. 

"During  the  days  that  I  was  camping  at  Gual- 
quini,  notwithstanding  the  lack  of  Sappers,  I  man- 
aged to  demolish  and  level  off  the  forts  and  bat- 
teries by  using  the  troops  and  militia  in  detach- 

*At  mouth  of  St  Mary's  River,  just  below  St.  Mary's 
Town. 


JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE       149 

ments,  to  ship  the  artillery  of  mortars  and  war 
stores  that  were  found,  to  burn  all  the  farm-houses, 
which  were  something  like  thirty,  and  destroying 
the  freshly  sown  fields,  and  the  last  day  we  finished 
with  the  rest  of  the  town,  which  consisted  of  sev- 
enty houses  on  seven  streets,  without  having  left 
any  vestige  or  indication  of  there  having  been  any 
people  there.  We  executed  the  same  with  the 
reserve  ships  of  two  sloops,  which  were  fitted,  add- 
ing them  to  the  armament  of  the  Navy,  and  of  the 
man-of-war  that  we  took  the  same  night  that  we 
took  the  Fort;  profiting  by  the  darkness  and  a 
thunderstorm,  it  escaped  from  us,  notwithstanding 
the  taking  of  the  necessary  steps  by  Don  Antonio 
de  Castenada  to  prevent  her  from  escaping. 

"I  noticed  that  the  damage  done  to  the  English 
will  amount  to  from  250,000  to  300,000  Pesos. 

"The  same  day  that  I  marched  by  land  to  the 
Island  of  Vejeces,  the  enemy's  ships  left  the  coast 
with  the  shore  wind  that  was  blowing  at  that  time, 
and  with  the  same  wind  ours  were  able  to  sail,  the 
intention  of  Don  Antonio  de  Castenada,  Com- 
mandant of  the  Army,  and  with  my  sanction,  being 
to  attack  them,  but  he  could  not  find  them  and 
sailed  for  Havana. 

"All  the  high  and  low  officers  of  the  Regulars 
and  Militia,  Don  Antonio  de  Castenada,  and  the 
Marine  Volunteers,  have  given  proofs  of  special 
zeal  and  love  for  the  Royal  Service  of  Your 
Majesty,  particularly  Colonel  Don  Francisco  Ru- 
biani,  the  Lieutenant-Colonel,  Don  Antonio  Sal- 
gado,  and  the  Second  Engineer,  Don  Antonio  de 
Arredondo,  who  has  acted  as  Major-General  with 
indefatigability,  all  of  whom  I  recommend  to  the 
high  honors  of  Your  Majesty. 


150      JAMES  EDW.  OGLETHORPE 

"I  do  not  know,  Sire,  if  my  conduct  will  deserve 
the  Royal  Approval  of  Your  Majesty,  with  the  un- 
derstanding that  all  my  vigilance  has  been  directed 
to  carry  out  the  confidence  in  me  invested,  without 
other  idea  of  reward  than  the  ruination  of  the 
enemies  of  the  Crown  and  the  honor  and  glory  of 
the  arms  of  Your  Majesty,  which  could  have  made 
great  progress  if  the  Omnipotent  One  that  disposes 
of  all  things  should  not  have  shortened  the  plans 
that  I  had  premeditated,  to  send  three  Galliots,  un- 
der command  of  Lieutenant  of  the  Navy  Don 
Adrian  Canteini,  to  the  St.  Simon's  River  and  to 
the  River  Ballenas,  commanded  by  the  officer  of 
the  Navy,  Don  Francisco  Pineda,  to  cut  off  the 
communications  of  the  enemy  and  to  obstruct  the 
succor  that  could  come  to  them  from  the  North. 

"In  consequence  of  the  instructions  of  the  Lieu- 
tenant-General, Don  Juan  Francisco  de  Guemes 
and  Horcasitas,  notwithstanding  this,  I  expect 
from  the  Royal  Magnanimity  of  Your  Majesty 
that  it  will  be  Your  pleasure  to  approve  my  actions, 
and  that  I  will  obtain  the  satisfaction  and  honors 
of  Your  Majesty,  which  Catholic  Person  I  pray 
God  to  guard  with  many  happy  years,  and  whom 
all  the  Christian  world  needs. 

"St.  Augustine,  Florida,  3rd  August,  1742. 
(Signed)    "SR.  DON  MANUEL  DE  MONTIANO." 


FACING   PAGE    15  1 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON* 

"Man's  sociality  of  nature,"  writes  Carlyle, 
"evinces  itself,  in  spite  of  all  that  can  be  said,  with 
abundant  evidence  by  this  one  fact,  were  there  no 
other:  the  unspeakable  delight  he  takes  in  Biog- 
raphy. It  is  written,  'The  proper  study  of  man- 
kind is  man' ;  to  which  study,  let  us  candidly  admit, 
he,  by  true  or  by  false  methods,  applies  himself, 
nothing  loth.  Man  is  perennially  interesting  to 
man;  nay,  if  we  look  strictly  to  it,  there  is  nothing 
else  interesting." 

These  thoughts  of  this  profound  thinker  are  in- 
disputably true,  when  the  man  we  contemplate  is 
the  Greek  Anax  Andron,  a  leader  of  men.  Such 
an  one  is  the  topic  for  our  consideration  this 
evening. 

On  the  island  of  St.  Nevis  in  the  West  Indies, 
the  nth  of  January,  1757,  Alexander  Hamilton 
was  born.  Many  great  men  have  been  precocious 
children.  The  astonishing  precocity  of  Hamilton 
rivaled  the  growth  of  those  tropical  flowers  per- 
fuming the  zephyrs  that  caressed  the  soft  tresses 
of  the  little  child.  We  find  him  when  twelve  years 
old  a  clerk  in  a  counting-room,  and  in  the  familiar 
letter  to  his  friend  Edward  Stephens,  at  that  tender 
age  it  is  discovered  that  he  is  already  the  possessor 
of  a  vocabulary  well  nigh  Johnsonian.  "I  con- 

*First  of  the  series  of  lectures  on  the  Storrs  Foundation, 
delivered  before  the  Law  Department  of  Yale  University,  at 
New  Haven,  Connecticut,  May,  1906. 

151 


1 52         ALEXANDER  HAMILTON 

temn,"  he  writes,  "the  grovelling  condition  of  a 
clerk  or  the  like,  to  which  my  fortune  condemns 
me,  and  would  willingly  risk  my  life,  though  not 
my  character,  to  exalt  my  station.  I  am  confident, 
Ned,  that  my  youth  excludes  me  from  any  hopes 
of  immediate  preferment,  nor  do  I  desire  it,  but  I 
mean  to  prepare  the  way  for  futurity."  So  marked 
was  his  capacity  at  this  time,  that  by  friends  or 
relatives  he  was  entrusted  with  the  sole  manage- 
ment of  a  mercantile  business  of  importance,  and  it 
cannot  be  doubted  that  the  familiarity  he  thus  ac- 
quired with  business  methods,  and  accounting,  had 
the  most  important  influence,  when  it  devolved 
upon  him  to  organize  the  Treasury,  and  to  utilize 
the  untouched  resources  of  our  country  for  the 
establishment  of  national  credit.  Indeed,  I  have 
long  been  convinced  that  no  single  accomplishment 
is  of  more  practical  value  to  the  lawyer  or  states- 
man, than  a  precise  knowledge  of  accounting  and 
the  methods  of  successful  business  men. 

The  genius  of  this  remarkable  youth  was  soon 
appreciated  by  those  who  were  concerned  in  his 
welfare.  By  a  judicious  liberality,  for  which  they 
will  deserve  the  gratitude  of  generations  yet  un- 
born, they  made  provision  for  his  education.  In 
his  fifteenth  year  he  left  St.  Nevis  and  arrived  in 
Boston  in  October,  1772.  He  was  advised  to 
enter  the  grammar  school  at  Elizabethtown,  and 
at  the  end  of  the  year  he  entered  King's,  now  Co- 
lumbia College.  There  he  had  the  assistance  of  a 
private  tutor.  He  labored  incessantly.  In  addi- 
tion to  his  regular  studies  he  indulged  his  natural 
inclination  and  made  continual  excursions  into  the 
domains  of  finance,  government,  and  politics. 

Hamilton  was  born  twelve  years  after  Jefferson. 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON         153 

Wellington  and  Napoleon  were  born  in  the  same 
month.  Of  the  latter  conjunction  "Providence," 
said  Louis  XVIII,  "owed  us  that  counterpoise." 

While  Hamilton  was  thus  in  the  words  of  his 
boyish  letter  striving  "to  prepare  for  futurity," 
there  came  in  his  affairs  that  tide  which  leads  on 
to  fortune.  It  was  the  rising  tide  of  the  American 
Revolution.  The  lad  had  been  born  in  an  English 
dependency.  While  it  is  probable  that  he  had  lis- 
tened to  the  declamations  of  the  Boston  patriots, 
he  was  now  in  New  York  where  the  Tories  were  in 
control.  It  is  characteristic  of  the  man,  as  he  de- 
clares himself,  that  he  had  formed  strong  preju- 
dices on  the  Ministerial  side,  until  he  became  con- 
vinced by  the  superior  force  of  the  arguments  in 
favor  of  the  Colonial  cause.  On  the  6th  of  July, 
1774,  a  great  open  air  meeting  was  held  under  the 
auspices  of  the  patriot  leaders.  Hamilton  was  in 
attendance  listening  to  the  speakers. 

In  the  summer  of  the  same  year,  perhaps  in  the 
same  month,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  an- 
other youngster  of  Scottish  antecedents,  clothed 
in  the  regimentals  of  the  Scots  Royals,  strolled 
into  an  English  court  at  the  assizes  of  a  country 
town  where  Lord  Mansfield  was  sitting.  The 
Chief  Justice,  noticing  the  uniform,  invited  the 
young  officer  to  a  seat  on  the  bench,  briefly  stated 
the  principal  points  of  the  case,  and  offered  other 
gratifying  civilities.  The  subaltern  listened  with 
the  liveliest  interest.  The  counsel  were  among  the 
leaders  of  the  circuit,  but  it  occurred  to  the  mili- 
tary visitor  in  the  course  of  the  argument  how 
much  more  clearly  and  forcibly  he  could  have  pre- 
sented certain  points  and  urged  them  on  the  minds 
of  the  jury.  This  incident  became  the  inception 


i54        ALEXANDER  HAMILTON 

of  the  surpassing  career  in  advocacy  of  Lord 
Thomas  Erskine,  who  after  the  lapse  of  four  gen- 
erations, comprising  the  Augustan  age  of  our  pro- 
fession, is  still  facile  princeps  among  the  advocates 
of  the  English  speaking  bar. 

Like  Erskine,  Hamilton  was  not  satisfied  with 
the  patriotic  orators  in  the  "Fields."  Conscious  of 
his  own  powers,  the  student  pressed  through  the 
crowd  to  the  platform  and  in  a  moment  stood  be- 
fore the  people.  An  accomplished  biographer 
states  that  the  populace  stared  at  the  audacious 
boy,  and  then  nature  asserted  itself  and  his  words 
flowed  unchecked.  Thrilled  with  the  cogency  and 
power  of  the  young  patriot's  appeal,  his  vast  au- 
dience whispered  one  to  the  other  the  significant 
words,  "It  is  a  collegian,  it  is  a  collegian." 

He  took  no  step  backward.  But  two  years 
previously  George  the  Third  had  exclaimed, 
"Junius  is  known  and  will  write  no  more."  This 
proved  to  be  true.  But  the  compositions  of  that 
master  of  style  had  been  indelibly  impressed  upon 
those  who  spoke  and  wrote  the  English  tongue. 
The  written  disputations  of  the  day  were  expressed 
in  pamphlets,  or  after  the  fashion  of  Junius,  by 
essays  addressed  to  the  printer.  Hamilton  soon 
became  a  vigorous  tractarian  for  the  patriots. 
Two  pamphlets  he  wrote;  both  were  ascribed  to 
men  of  distinguished  ability,  and  when  their  au- 
thorship was  disclosed  the  young  writer  was  at 
once  famous.  But  Hamilton  had  no  purpose  "to 
prepare  for  futurity"  by  the  pen  alone.  He  soon 
joined  a  volunteer  corps.  In  addition  to  this,  he 
almost  immediately  evinced  a  characteristic,  essen- 
tial then,  and  more  essential  now,  to  every  leader 
of  thought  or  action  in  our  country — the  detestation 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON         155 

and  abhorrence  of  the  mob.  With  the  rule  of  the 
mob,  the  reign  of  the  law  and  the  lawyer  is  gone. 
A  British  line-of-battle  ship,  the  Asia,  in  the  har- 
bor, had  opened  fire  on  the  town.  The  Liberty 
Boys  could  not  get  at  the  ship,  and  rushed  en  masse 
to  King's  College  to  wreak  their  vengeance  on  a 
more  convenient  and  perhaps  less  formidable  ob- 
ject, Dr.  Cooper,  the  Tory  president  of  that  seat 
of  letters.  But  they  found  their  leader  Hamilton, 
and  Troup,  his  lifelong  friend,  on  the  steps  of  the 
building  ready  to  protect  their  preceptor.  Hamil- 
ton proceeded  to  address  the  crowd  and  to  de- 
nounce their  lawless  conduct.  Dr.  Cooper,  who  it 
seems  did  not  hear  or  comprehend  the  nature  of 
Hamilton's  harangue,  or  who  perhaps  recalled 
the  classic  aphorism,  "Timeo  Danaos  et  dona 
ferentes"  from  an  upper  story  warned  the  mob 
not  to  be  guided  by  such  a  madman  as  his  pupil, 
and  then  prudently  betook  himself  to  flight. 

When  the  New  York  convention  ordered  the  or- 
ganization of  a  battery  of  artillery,  Hamilton 
sought  the  command.  He  was  now  but  nineteen 
years  of  age,  but  a  rigid  technical  examination  dis- 
closed his  familiarity  with  that  difficult  arm,  and 
he  received  the  appointment.  By  the  excellence 
of  his  drill  he  won  the  admiration  of  General 
Greene.  This  distinguished  officer  introduced  the 
young  artillerist  to  Washington,  to  whom  subse- 
quently he  was  to  render  services  inestimable.  At 
the  disastrous  battle  of  Long  Island  with  great 
courage  he  aided  to  cover  the  retreat,  and  to  save 
the  patriot  army.  At  White  Plains  he  won  further 
renown  by  the  admirable  manner  in  which  he  han- 
dled his  guns.  He  volunteered  to  recover  Fort 
Washington  by  storm.  In  the  painful  marching  and 


156        ALEXANDER  HAMILTON 

countermarching  of  the  patriots  through  New 
Jersey  he  was  ever  present.  He  shared  in  the  vic- 
tory over  the  Hessians  at  Trenton,  and  at  Prince- 
ton with  his  veteran  command,  now  reduced  to 
twenty-five  gunners,  he  upheld  his  reputation  as  a 
brilliant  and  gallant  artillerist. 

His  literary  reputation  had  now  become  widely 
known.  He  now  seemed  to  be  far  more  valuable 
on  the  staff  than  in  the  line.  This  with  his  proven 
excellence  in  the  profession  of  arms  led,  on  March 
i,  1777,  to  his  promotion  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant- 
colonel,  when  he  was  barely  twenty  years  old.  He 
was  now  appointed  as  one  of  Washington's  aides. 
Henceforward  and  almost  to  the  end  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary struggle,  in  the  words  of  his  friend  the 
gallant  Laurens  of  South  Carolina,  he  "held  the 
pen  of  Junius  for  Washington's  army." 

I  must  not  omit  to  mention  that  we  find  in  Ham- 
ilton's life  confirmation  strong  of  that  popular  con- 
viction, especially  among  the  better  half  of  hu- 
manity, that  the  greatest  men  are  ever  the  most 
susceptible  to  the  influence  of  feminine  charms. 
When  in  1779,  Washington  after  Saratoga  had 
sent  his  young  officer  to  request  reinforcements 
from  General  Horatio  Gates,  Hamilton  had  met 
at  Albany  an  apparition  altogether  more  agree- 
able than  that  doughty  and  self-satisfied  warrior. 
This  was  Miss  Elizabeth  Schuyler.  This  charm- 
ing woman  was  the  daughter  of  the  friend  of 
Washington,  the  distinguished  general  of  that 
name.  The  acquaintance  was  renewed  in  the 
spring  of  1780  and  ripened  into  an  engagement. 
The  marriage  was  not  unreasonably  delayed. 
Hamilton  was  now  connected  with  one  of  those 
famous  Dutch  families,  of  a  race  whose  indomit- 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON         157 

able  courage  reclaimed  their  beloved  Fatherland 
from  the  waves  of  the  North  Sea,  whose  irresist- 
ible passion  for  civil  and  religious  liberty  had  also 
expelled  from  its  borders  the  merciless  and  intol- 
erant bigots  of  a  cruel  and  alien  race.  Our  coun- 
try owes  much  to  the  fighting  strain  of  those  brave 
Hollanders,  and  will  doubtless  continue,  for  some 
time  to  come,  to  profit  from  their  passion  for  prac- 
tical and  effective  statecraft,  and  their  native  in- 
stinct for  the  construction  of  works  of  irrigation, 
and  the  excavation  of  canals. 

Time  forbids  that  I  should  give  further  narra- 
tive of  the  military  record  of  the  young  officer  who 
became  America's  greatest  constructive  statesman. 
But  the  closing  scene  should  not  be  forgotten  by 
his  patriotic  young  countrymen.  It  was  at  York- 
town.  It  had  been  determined  by  Washington  to 
carry  by  assault  two  of  the  British  redoubts  from 
which  had  flamed  an  enfilading  fire  on  the  allied 
entrenchments.  Two  columns  of  attack  were 
formed.  The  one  a  regiment  of  French  grena- 
diers, which  had  for  long  borne  the  proud  title 
"Auvergne  without  stain."  The  other  was  a  de- 
tachment of  Americans  commanded  by  LaFayette, 
who  had  given  the  honor  of  leading  the  advance 
to  his  own  aide-de-camp,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Gimat. 
This  wounded  the  military  pride  of  Hamilton, 
whose  tour  of  duty  it  was.  He  instantly  protested 
to  Washington,  who  directed  that  he  should,  as 
was  his  right,  command  both  columns  of  assault. 
At  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  when  the  rockets 
flared  the  signal,  the  forlorn  hope  instantly  swarm- 
ed to  the  attack.  The  royal  regiments  of  France 
\vaited  for  the  sappers  to  remove  the  abatis,  while 
Hamilton's  veteran  bush-fighters,  in  rough  and 


i58        ALEXANDER  HAMILTON 

tumble  style,  pulled  down  the  abatis  themselves. 
First  to  mount  was  Hamilton  himself.  Placing 
one  foot  on  the  shoulder  of  a  soldier  who  knelt  on 
one  knee  for  the  purpose,  sword  in  hand  he  sprang 
over  the  parapet.  Instantly  his  veterans  dashed 
headlong  after  him,  and  without  firing  a  shot  turn- 
ed out  the  British  with  the  bayonet's  point.  The 
gallant  Frenchmen  with  much  heavier  loss  were 
also  successful. 

It  is  interesting  to  reflect  that  this  was  Wash- 
ington's as  it  was  Hamilton's  last  battle.  It  was 
now  a  quarter  of  a  century  since  the  patriot  com- 
mander had  written  to  his  brother  after  his  first 
fight,  "I  heard  the  bullets  whistle,  and  believe  me, 
there  is  something  charming  in  the  sound."  "He 
would  not  say  so,"  said  George  the  Second,  "if 
he  had  been  used  to  hear  many."  No  bad  judge  of 
such  matters,  was  this  dapper  little  King  George. 
Thackeray,  in  his  charming  lectures,  tells  us  that  he 
had  a  famous  spirit  of  his  own  and  fought  like  a 
Trojan.  He  called  out  his  brother  of  Prussia  with 
sword  and  pistol,  and  a  duel  was  only  prevented 
by  the  representations,  made  to  the  two,  of  the 
European  laughter  which  would  have  been  caused 
by  such  a  transaction.  "At  Dettingen  his  horse 
ran  away  with  him,  and  with  difficulty  was  stopped 
from  carrying  him  into  the  French  lines.  The 
King  dismounted  from  the  fiery  quadruped,  said 
bravely,  ''Now  I  know  I  shall  not  run  away,'  and 
placing  himself  at  the  head  of  the  foot,  drew  his 
sword,  brandishing  it  at  the  whole  French  army, 
and  calling  out  to  his  own  men  to  come  on,  in  bad 
English,  butwiththe  most  famouspluck  and  spirit." 

On  public  festivals  he  always  appeared  in  the 
hat  and  coat  he  wore  on  the  famous  day  of 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON         159 

Oudenarde,  and  the  people  laughed,  but  kindly,  at 
the  odd  old  garment,  "for  bravery,"  wrote  the 
kindly  satirist,  "never  goes  out  of  fashion." 

It  is  probable  that  the  contemporary  monarchs 
of  the  House  of  Hanover  always  underestimated 
the  fighting  spirit  of  the  great  Virginian,  or  per- 
haps amid  the  smiles  and  cajolements  of  their  fat 
and  lean  mistresses  they  did  not  trouble  themselves 
to  think  of  him  at  all ;  forgetting  perhaps  how  his 
riflemen  with  terrible  loss,  desperately  fighting 
from  every  tree  and  log,  protected  the  shattered 
remnant  of  Braddock's  army  from  massacre  and 
torture.  Surely,  the  Third  George  did  not  know 
the  man  who,  riding  to  take  command  at  Cam- 
bridge, met  the  courier,  and  heard  the  great  news 
how  fifteen  hundred  minute-men  of  New  England, 
with  Starke  and  Prescott,  Warren  and  Putnam, 
had  obeyed  orders,  stood  their  ground,  reserved 
their  fire,  and  in  the  presence  of  anxious  thousands 
in  Boston,  the  roaring  flames  of  Charlestown,  the 
thunders  of  the  enemy's  fleet,  and  the  deadly  fire 
of  the  crack  regiments  of  the  King,  before  their 
slender  works  were  carried,  had  shot  down  a  thou- 
sand and  fifty-four,  or  one-third  of  the  attacking 
column.  The  King  did  not  hear  the  Virginian 
planter  as  those  firm  lips  exclaimed,  "The  liberties 
of  our  country  are  safe."  Long  Island,  White 
Plains,  Trenton,  Princeton,  Brandywine,  Mon- 
mouth,  and  other  stricken  fields,  where  the  red- 
coats of  King  George  and  his  own  "ragged  Con- 
tinentals yielding  not"  had  met  in  the  shock  of  bat- 
tle, were  all  now  behind  him.  He  was  now  at  the 
fruition  of  his  hopes,  and  to  the  last  he  maintained 
the  intense,  but  calm,  intrepidity  in  hours  of  ex- 
tremest  moment  which  ha-s  ever  marked  our  great- 


160        ALEXANDER  HAMILTON 

est  military  leaders.  As  Hamilton's  command 
advanced  to  storm  the  redoubts,  Washington  had 
dismounted,  and  had  taken  his  stand  in  the  grand 
battery  with  Generals  Knox  and  Lincoln  and  their 
staffs.  As  the  columns  swept  on,  he  watched  them 
through  an  embrasure.  One  of  his  aides  sug- 
gested that  his  situation  was  very  exposed.  "If 
you  think  so,"  he  coldly  replied,  "you  are  at  lib- 
erty to  step  back."  A  musket-ball  struck  the  can- 
non in  the  embrasure,  rolled  along  it  and  fell  at 
his  feet.  General  Knox  grasped  his  arm.  "My 
dear  General,"  exclaimed  his  friend,  "we  cannot 
spare  you  yet."  "It  is  a  spent  ball,"  replied  Wash- 
ington quietly,  "no  harm  is  done."  When  all  was 
over  and  the  redoubts  were  taken,  he  drew  a  long 
breath,  turned  to  Knox  and  said,  "The  work  is 
done  and  well  done."  Five  days  later  the  British 
army  marched  mournfully  from  their  works  with 
slow  and  solemn  steps,  and  colors  cased,  their 
drums  thumping  out,  and  their  fifes  wailing  an 
old-time  air,  entitled,  "The  World  Turned  Up- 
side Down,"  and  grounded  their  arms.  The  coun- 
try gave  way  to  transports  of  joy.  Lord  George 
Germaine  was  the  first  to  carry  the  news  to  Lord 
North,  the  Prime  Minister  of  King  George,  at  his 
office  in  Downing  Street.  "And  how  did  he  take 
it,"  was  inquired.  "As  he  would  have  taken  a  ball 
in  the  breast,"  was  the  reply. 

It  is  interesting  to  recall  that  at  Yorktown  Ham- 
ilton no  longer  belonged  to  Washington's  military 
family.  The  incident  which  occasioned  the  separa- 
tion had  occurred  on  the  i8th  of  the  previous  Feb- 
ruary. It  is  described  by  Hamilton  himself  in  a 
letter  to  his  father-in-law,  General  Schuyler.  "An 
unexpected  change,"  writes  Hamilton,  "has  taken 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON         161 

place  in  my  situation.  I  am  no  longer  a  member 
of  the  General's  family.  This  information  will 
surprise  you,  and  the  manner  of  the  change  will 
surprise  you  more.  Two  days  ago  the  General 
and  I  passed  each  other  on  the  stairs;  he  told  me 
he  wanted  to  speak  to  me.  I  answered  I  would 
wait  on  him  immediately.  I  went  below  and  de- 
livered Mr.  Tilghman  a  letter  to  be  sent  to  the 
commissary,  containing  an  order  of  a  pressing  and 
interesting  nature.  Returning  to  the  General,  I 
was  stopped  on  the  way  by  the  Marquis  de  La- 
Fayette,  and  we  conversed  maybe  about  a  minute 
on  a  matter  of  business.  He  can  testify  how  im- 
patient I  was  to  get  back,  and  that  I  left  him  in  a 
manner  which  but  for  our  intimacy  would  have 
been  more  than  abrupt.  Instead  of  finding  the 
General,  as  is  usual,  in  his  room,  I  met  him  at  the 
head  of  the  stairs,  where,  accosting  me  in  an  angry 
tone,  'Colonel  Hamilton,'  said  he,  'you  have  kept 
me  waiting  at  the  head  of  the  stairs  these  ten  min- 
utes; I  must  tell  you,  sir,  you  treat  me  with  disre- 
spect.' I  replied  without  petulancy,  but  with  decision, 
'I  am  not  conscious  of  it,  sir;  but  since  you  have 
thought  it  necessary  to  tell  me  so,  we  part.'  'Very 
well,  sir,'  said  he,  'if  it  be  your  choice,'  or  some- 
thing to  this  effect,  and  we  separated.  I  sincerely 
believe  my  absence  which  gave  so  much  umbrage 
did  not  last  ten  minutes." 

The  exquisite  judgment  and  profound  magna- 
nimity of  Washington  was  not  ruffled  by  the  punc- 
tilios of  his  young  friend.  An  ordinary  man  would 
have  resented  Hamilton's  immovable  refusal  to 
accept  an  accommodation.  Notwithstanding  this, 
Washington  determined  at  once  to  retain  in  the 
service  of  the  country  that  astonishing  capacity, 


1 6i        ALEXANDER  HAMILTON 

"formed  for  all  parts,  and  in  all  alike  shining 
variously  great."  We  have  seen  how  just  he  was 
to  Hamilton  at  Yorktown.  The  truth  is  the  great 
Virginian  loved  him  like  a  son.  It  is  indeed  prob- 
able that  no  man  ever  surpassed  Hamilton  in  his 
power  to  gain  the  affectionate  devotion  of  very 
great  men.  "He  was  evidently,"  said  one  of  his 
most  engaging  biographers,  "very  attractive,  and 
must  have  possessed  a  great  charm  of  manners, 
address,  and  conversation,  but  the  real  secret  was 
that  he  loved  his  friends  and  so  they  loved  him. 
All  his  comrades  on  the  staff  and  all  the  officers 
young  and  old  who  knew  him,  and  were  not  hostile 
to  Washington,  loved  him  and  were  proud  of  his 
talents.  The  same  was  true  of  the  young  French 
officers  with  whom  he  was  much  thrown,  on  ac- 
count of  his  perfect  command  of  their  language, 
a  very  rare  accomplishment  in  the  colonies.  To 
these  attributes  we  may  ascribe  that  personal  fol- 
lowing in  after  years,  which  for  culture,  force  of 
character,  lofty  ability,  and  devotion  to  his  leader- 
ship, are  surely  unsurpassed  in  American  political 
history." 

It  is  incontestable  that  in  the  practical  applica- 
tion of  the  science  of  government,  the  educative 
results  of  Hamilton's  duties  as  military  secretary 
were  most  potential.  His  persuasive  and  construc- 
tive powers  were  now  to  be  trained  for  years  in 
the  salvation  of  an  unorganized  people,  and  the 
making  of  a  nation.  That  Washington  is  himself 
entitled  to  the  substantial  credit  for  the  enormous 
correspondence  which  had  emanated  from  his 
headquarters  during  the  war  cannot  be  fairly  de- 
nied. It  was  he  who  directed  the  movements  of 
armies,  who  protested  against  the  incapacity  of 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON         163 

officers,  native  and  alien,  and  who  baffled  the 
schemes  of  those  vile  and  envious  marplots  who 
would  detract  from  the  just  renown  of  every  man 
who,  through  motives  their  infinitesimal  natures 
cannot  embrace,  yet  labor  for  the  happiness  of  the 
people  and  the  betterment  of  their  times;  who  im- 
parted to  Congress  an  account  of  his  necessities, 
and  who  as  unceasingly  urged  upon  that  body  the 
performance  of  its  duty.  Indeed,  to  the  Continen- 
tal Army,  as  to  the  Continental  Congress,  Wash- 
ington's relation,  when  contrasted  with  that  of 
other  great  generals  in  command,  is  at  once  iso- 
lated and  unique. 

A  Caesar  might  rely  with  confidence  upon  those 
legions  the  thunder  of  whose  tread  was  heard  from 
the  plains  of  Parthia  to  the  mists  of  Caledonia. 
Cromwell,  from  a  devout  God-fearing  and  tyrant- 
hating  people,  had  trained  an  army  whose  backs 
the  brilliant  Macaulay  declares  "no  foeman  had 
ever  seen."  This  moved  at  the  command  of  that 
imperial  voice  whose  mandate  at  once  arrested  the 
depredations  of  the  Lybian  pirates  and  quenched 
the  avenging  fires  of  Rome.  The  Great  Frederick 
might  be  driven  to  coin  the  silver  chandeliers  in 
his  palaces  in  Berlin  and  Potsdam,  but  the  last 
thaler  of  a  united,  devoted,  and  warlike  people 
was  at  the  command  of  the  last  of  the  great  Kings. 
At  Austerlitz  or  Jena  the  fierce  enthusiasm  of  the 
French  Revolution,  the  passion  for  military  glory 
of  the  French  people,  and  the  wealth  of  the  Em- 
pire were  instantly  responsive  to  Napoleon's  or- 
der or  decree.  Behind  the  armies  of  Wellington 
were  the  constantly  increasing  wealth,  and  irresist- 
ible sea  power  of  the  British  people.  On  his  lines 
at  Torres  Vedras,  or  his  formation  at  Salamanca 


1 64        ALEXANDER  HAMILTON 

the  cartridge-boxes  of  his  troops  might  be  refilled 
and  their  rations  supplied  as  regularly  as  at  Lon- 
don or  Chatham.  Of  these  essentials  of  success- 
ful war,  Washington  had  little  or  nothing.  In- 
deed, from  the  Declaration  of  Independence  to 
the  Treaty  of  Peace,  the  influence  and  constancy 
of  Washington  was  the  Government  itself. 

After  Yorktown  the  country  was  at  the  period 
of  its  greatest  debility.  We  were  now  living  un- 
der the  Articles  of  Confederation,  which  had  gone 
into  theoretical  operation  on  the  ist  of  March, 
1781.  These  were  soon  seen  to  be  less  effective 
than  the  undefined  powers  of  the  Continental  Con- 
gress. Both  Hamilton  and  Washington  had  fore- 
seen their  impotency.  In  his  famous  letter  to 
Duane  written  the  previous  year,  Hamilton  had 
declared  of  this  "Firm  League  of  Friendship,"  as 
it  was  self-styled,  "It  is  defective  and  requires  to 
be  altered."  After  this  moderate  criticism  he 
adds:  "It  is  neither  fit  for  war  nor  peace.  The 
idea  of  an  uncontrollable  sovereignty  in  each 
State  will  defeat  the  powers  given  to  Congress 
and  make  our  Union  feeble  and  precarious."  The 
unbroken  testimony  of  men  who  lived  in  that  day 
verifies  the  forecast  of  Washington's  marvelous 
aide-de-camp. 

I  may  add  that  the  United  States  of  America 
during  this  period  had  no  Executive,  and  barring 
a  "Prize  Court  of  Appeals,"  as  it  was  termed, 
which  had  no  power  or  process  to  enforce  its  de- 
crees ;  no  judiciary,  and  not  a  dollar  to  pay  a  judge 
or  juror.  Finally  that  sole  tribunal  representing 
the  judiciary  of  the  United  States,  informed  the 
moribund  Congress,  that  its  duties  were  com- 
pleted, and  the  court  might  as  well  dissolve.  How 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON         165 

far  this  report  was  ascribable  to  the  fact  that  no 
sustentation  was  afforded  the  judges  from  the 
empty  coffers  of  the  Confederation,  we  have  no 
precise  information.  The  Congress,  however, 
promptly  replied  to  the  effect  that  the  public  in- 
terests required  that  the  judges  should  retain  their 
jurisdiction  and  exercise  their  authority,  but  with- 
out any  salaries.  With  amiable  self-abnegation 
the  judges  then  withdrew  their  resignations,  and 
we  may  trust  continued  to  survive.  Perhaps 
Thomas  Jefferson  had  this  precedent  in  mind, 
when  some  years  later  he  declared  of  the  Federal 
judges,  "few  die  and  none  resign." 

The  debility  of  the  Government  was  daily  more 
alarming.  Finally  the  Congress  of  the  Confedera- 
tion, which  had  at  least  on  one  occasion  depended 
upon  the  sprinting  excellence  of  its  membership 
to  escape  personal  and  condign  chastisement  at 
the  hands  of  unpaid  and  mutinous  troops,  deemed 
it  the  part  of  discretion  to  silently  and  informally 
disband.  The  French  Minister  now  wrote  to  his 
Government/'There  is  now  in  America  no  general 
government,  neither  President  nor  head  of  any  one 
administrative  department."  In  the  mean  time, 
Washington  had  performed  his  last  public  act  un- 
der the  Revolutionary  government.  This  was  his 
formal  resignation  as  commander-in-chief  of  the 
American  army.  He  bade  farewell  to  his  troops 
and  broke  up  their  encampment  at  Newburgh  on 
the  Hudson.  He  had,  on  the  eighth  anniversary 
of  the  Lexington  fight,  announced  to  his  army  the 
joyful  prospect  of  a  certain  peace.  It  was  now 
November.  He  had  been  concerned  for  several 
days  with  the  British  evacuation  of  New  York, 
and  at  a  tavern  near  Whitehall  Ferry  he  gave  an 


1 66        ALEXANDER  HAMILTON 

affectionate  farewell  to  his  officers,  grasping  each 
silently  by  the  hand.  It  was  not  until  the  23d  day 
of  December  that  his  resignation  was  delivered  to 
Congress,  and  Miiflin,  the  president  of  that  body, 
as  he  received  the  parchment,  exclaimed:  "You 
retire  from  the  theater  of  action  with  the  blessings 
of  your  fellow-citizens,  but  the  glory  of  your  vir- 
tues will  not  terminate  with  your  military  com- 
mand; it  will  continue  to  animate  remotest  ages." 
The  great  man  now  retired  to  that  colonial  home 
on  the  romantic  eminence  where  the  placid  tides 
of  the  Potomac  lave  its  Virginia  shore,  and  hard 
by  the  sacred  spot  where  his  ashes  now  repose, 
forever  hallowed  by  the  love  and  devotion  of  in- 
creasing millions  of  his  grateful  countrymen.  But 
the  charms  of  Mount  Vernon  could  not  banish 
from  the  mind  of  Washington  the  urgent  necessi- 
ties of  his  country.  He  saw  John  Adams,  our  first 
Minister  to  the  Court  of  St.  James,  welcomed  in- 
deed by  his  first  visitor,  the  noble  and  venerable 
Oglethorpe,  the  founder  of  our  own  State,  but 
treated  with  surly  and  contemptuous  indifference 
by  George  the  Third,  who  publicly  turned  his  back, 
and  by  the  British  ministry,  who  sent  no  ambassa- 
dor in  return.  He  knew  that  when  the  American 
commissioners  attempted  to  negotiate  a  commer- 
cial treaty  with  Great  Britain  they  were  contemp- 
tuously asked  whether  they  had  credentials  from 
the  separate  States.  He  knew  that  the  public  debt 
could  not  be  paid  or  funded,  that  the  interest  even 
could  not  be  met;  that  no  taxes  could  be  collected; 
that  if  there  should  be  an  attempt  to  coerce  a  State 
to  pay  its  assessment,  it  meant  inevitable  civil  war 
and  disintegration;  that  the  best  securities  rated  at 
times  as  low  as  fifteen  per  cent;  that  at  home  and 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON         167 

abroad  our  country  was  disreputable;  that  Great 
Britain  yet  refused  to  surrender  her  Western  posts, 
confessedly  within  the  boundaries  fixed  by  the 
Treaty  of  Peace;  that  Spain,  who  for  long  thwart- 
ed the  recognition  of  our  independence,  and  ever 
the  insidious  enemy  of  America,  holding  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  was  striving  to  withdraw 
the  allegiance  of  our  people  west  of  the  Alleghen- 
ies;  that  the  Atlantic  coast  from  the  Bay  of  Fundy 
to  the  River  St.  Mary  was  cut  up  between  thirteen 
independent  States,  each  with  its  own  revenue  laws 
and  collection  methods;  that  interstate  tariffs  were 
alienating  the  American  commonwealths,  and  that 
Connecticut  taxed  Massachusetts  imports  higher 
than  British.  The  General  heard  the  plaints  of 
his  intrepid  comrades,  who  had  faltered  not  amid 
the  floating  ice  of  the  Delaware,  the  Hessian  vol- 
leys at  Trenton,  the  agonies  of  cold  and  hunger  at 
Valley  Forge,  the  sweltering  heat  of  Monmouth, 
who  at  last  had  stormed  the  British  entrench- 
ments at  Yorktown,  and  now  without  pay  or  pen- 
sions had  sorrowfully  repaired  to  homes  of  penury 
and  distress.  Is  it  surprising,  then,  that  the  Father 
of  his  Country,  and  many  who  thought  with  him, 
determined  that  America  should  have  a  govern- 
ment worthy  of  the  glories  of  its  past,  commen- 
surate with  the  necessities  of  the  hour,  and  suffi- 
cient for  the  exigencies  of  the  future? 

In  the  mean  time,  after  Yorktown,  Hamilton 
had  resigned  his  commission,  and  had  left  the 
army  to  take  up  the  study  of  law.  More  than  a 
year  before  Yorktown,  he  had  written  to  a  mem- 
ber of  Congress  from  New  York:  "We  must  at 
all  events  have  a  vigorous  confederation,  if  we 
mean  to  succeed  in  the  contest  and  be  happy  there- 


1 68         ALEXANDER  HAMILTON 

after.  Internal  policies  should  be  regulated  by 
the  legislatures.  Congress  should  have  complete 
sovereignty  in  all  that  relates  to  war,  peace,  trade, 
finance,  foreign  affairs,  armies,  fleets,  fortifications, 
coining  money,  establishing  banks,  imposing  a  land 
tax,  poll  tax,  duties  on  trade  and  the  unoccupied 
lands."  The  foreknowledge  of  the  evolution  of 
our  government  by  the  young  staff  officer  will  seem 
to  rival  prophecy  itself.  This  remarkable  letter 
was  written  from  his  tent  while  the  writer  was  sur- 
rounded by  the  ragged  and  hungry  soldiers  of 
Washington.  From  the  same  environment  he 
wrote  to  Robert  Morris  discussing  his  scheme  for 
a  national  bank.  These  incidents  exhibit  at  once 
his  indomitable  love  of  work,  and  his  irresistible 
disposition  towards  broad  concerns  of  statecraft 
and  national  polity. 

After  a  few  months'  preparation,  Hamilton 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  the  summer  of  1782. 
Of  course,  he  had  little  time  for  study,  but  in  after 
years  it  was  found  that  all  the  law  he  had  acquired 
had  been  condensed  in  a  brief  manual  in  manu- 
script, which  became  serviceable  to  many  others, 
who  did  not  possess  his  original  powers  of  logic 
and  reasoning. 

It  does  not  appear  that  his  profession  was  im- 
mediately productive.  He  had,  indeed,  the  habit 
of  charging  very  small  fees.  He  was  soon  ap- 
pointed receiver  of  continental  taxes  for  the  State 
of  New  York,  and  November,  1782,  was  elected 
to  the  decrepit  Congress.  At  once,  but  with  little 
hope,  he  grappled  with  the  desperate  condition  of 
affairs.  In  vain  did  he  attempt  to  secure  legisla- 
tion for  duties  on  imports.  In  vain  he  struggled 
to  prevent  the  disbandment  of  that  gallant  army, 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON         169 

described  by  LaFayette  as  the  most  patient  to  be 
found  in  the  world.  The  pageant  of  State  Sov- 
ereignty sent  them  home  with  nothing  but  their 
hangers  and  spontoons,  their  rifles  and  muskets. 
In  vain  he  urged  the  organization  of  a  regular 
force  which  might  become  the  nucleus  of  future 
armies.  When  State  Sovereignty  was  through 
with  the  National  defense,  the  army  of  the  United 
States  was  found  to  consist  of  eighty  mercenaries. 

It  is  not  then  surprising  that  Hamilton's  dis- 
position toward  forceful  and  effective  organic  law 
was  immensely  strengthened.  The  inanition  and 
imbecility  of  scarecrow  government,  tolerated  by 
the  selfishness,  suspicion,  and  inertia  of  thirteen 
unconnected  States,  drove  him  to  the  side  of  Wash- 
ington, as  faithful,  as  devoted,  and  as  indomitable 
as  at  Valley  Forge  and  Trenton,  at  Monmouth 
and  Yorktown. 

Now  for  the  first  time,  he  takes  active  part  in 
the  formation  of  the  Constitution.  Seizing  the 
occasion  of  the  abortive  convention  at  Annapolis, 
he  drafts  an  appeal  for  a  new  convention,  which 
throughout  the  country  is  read  everywhere.  Se- 
curing an  election  to  the  legislature  of  New  York, 
with  the  utmost  difficulty  he  induces  the  election 
of  delegates  to  the  Constitutional  Convention  of 
May  8,1787.  In  that  body  he  is  the  minority  dele- 
gate from  his  State.  There  he  contents  himself 
with  one  great  speech,  which  Gouverneur  Morris 
declared  the  ablest  and  most  impressive  he  ever 
heard.  The  synopsis  of  this  great  argument  is 
preserved,  and  it  sets  forth  those  profound  medita- 
tions upon  the  science  of  government  which  have 
been  to  him  habitual  from  boyhood  itself.  In 
favor  of  strong  government,  it  is  far  in  advance 


1 70        ALEXANDER  HAMILTON 

of  the  views  of  the  convention,  but  it  is  as  it  is  in- 
tended to  be,  highly  educative.  Certain  of  its 
principles,  while  startling  to  the  convention  then, 
to  the  American  people  of  to-day  are  as  familiar 
as  household  words.  His  colleagues,  saturated  with 
opposition,  leaving  the  convention,  he  does  not 
hesitate  to  sign  the  Constitution  for  New  York. 

To  frame  the  Constitution  was  a  difficult  task, 
but  to  secure  its  adoption  by  the  people  is  more 
difficult  still.  The  story  is  familiar  how  he  and 
Madison  and  Jay  devoted  their  facile  and  lucid 
pens,  their  exquisite  powers  of  argument  and  or- 
ganization to  the  cause  of  the  perpetual  Union. 
Of  Hamiltdn  and  Madison,  who  has  been  termed 
the  "Father  of  the  Constitution,"  it  has  been  said 
that  "the  complement  of  two  such  minds  was  most 
auspicious  for  the  country."  They  are  both  very 
young  for  such  a  mighty  undertaking,  but  the 
serene  wisdom  of  Washington,  the  silent  watch- 
man, curbs  the  fervid  energy  of  the  one  and  en- 
courages the  dispassionate,  clear-sighted  and  per- 
suasive powers  of  the  other.  In  successive  num- 
bers the  "Federalist"  is  published.  Aside  from  the 
great  decisions  of  John  Marshall  and  the  mighty 
judges  who  held  with  him,  to  this  day,  it  is  the  best 
and  most  satisfactory  exposition  of  the  mischiefs 
the  Constitution  was  intended  to  cure,  the  elastic 
and  all-sufficient  remedies  which  it  affords.  Nor 
is  it  without  the  proud  elation  of  Americanism,  we 
reflect,  that  when  the  victorious  Princes  of  the  great 
Teutonic  race,  intent  on  the  formation  of  the  Ger- 
man Empire,  assembled  in  the  Hall  of  Mirrors 
at  Versailles,  to  the  "Federalist"  their  juriscon- 
sults turned,  as  to  the  most  comprehensive  treatise 
on  the  principles  of  federal  government. 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON         171 

But  the  literary  rank  attained  by  Hamilton  in 
these  great  papers,  great  as  they  were,  does  not 
afford  such  manifestation  of  astonishing  power  as 
his  part  in  the  debate  in  the  New  York  convention. 
Here  the  opponents  of  the  Constitution  under  the 
leadership  of  Clinton,  Governor  of  the  State,  have 
forty-six  out  of  sixty-five  votes.  The  majority  is 
led  by  Melancthon  Smith,  no  mean  debater  him- 
self. There  also  are  Yates  and  Lansing,  who  had 
been  Hamilton's  colleagues  in  the  constitutional 
convention.  The  minority  of  nineteen  have  for  its 
leaders  Hamilton,  Livingston,  and  Jay.  "Two- 
thirds  of  the  convention  and  four-sevenths  of  the 
people  are  against  us,"  Hamilton  declares. 

The  work  of  the  convention  and  every  clause 
and  paragraph  of  the  Constitution  is  scrutinized 
and  assailed,  with  all  the  bitterness  a  venomous 
and  hypercritical  majority  can  suggest.  Hamilton 
himself  is  constantly  assailed  as  if  he,  and  not  the 
Constitution,  is  the  object  of  attack.  The  sessions 
of  the  constitutional  convention  had  been  secret, 
and  Hamilton  is  familiar  with  every  detail.  He 
comes  to  the  debate  as  from  a  rehearsal.  When  it 
is  all  over  it  is  again  seen,  in  the  words  of  Wash- 
ington at  Yorktown,  that  "the  work  is  done  and 
well  done."  The  opponents  of  the  Constitution 
dare  not  come  to  a  direct  vote.  This  suits  the 
Federalists,  who  know  that  time  is  working  for 
them.  Nine  States  have  ratified,  and  presently 
comes  the  news  that  the  Old  Dominion,  the  State 
of  Washington,  had  also  assented.  Perceiving 
their  defeat,  the  opponents  propose  a  long  string 
of  amendments  and  a  conditional  ratification.  So 
brilliant  is  the  reply  of  Hamilton  to  these  meas- 
ures, that  Melancthon  Smith  himself  confesses  that 


1 72        ALEXANDER  HAMILTON 

conditional  ratification  is  absurd,  and  then  admits 
that  he  has  been  convinced  by  Hamilton,  and  that 
he  will  vote  for  the  Constitution.  The  Constitu- 
tion has  won. 

The  victory  of  Hamilton  was  epochal.  As  a 
parliamentary  victory  it  has  rarely  been  equalled. 
In  open  debate  upon  clearly  marked  party  lines  he 
has  overcome  and  won  over  a  hostile  majority. 
Mr.  Bancroft  declares  that  as  a  debater  he  was 
the  superior  of  William  Pitt,  the  famous  son  of 
that  more  famous  Pitt,  the  Earl  of  Chatham.  We 
may  well  believe  that  he  had  little  if  any  familiarity 
with  the  masterpieces  of  Greek  and  Roman  orators 
and  poets  which  afforded  an  incomparable  training 
and  equipment  to  such  men  as  Pitt  and  Fox, 
Macaulay  and  Gladstone.  Nor  did  he  possess  the 
musical  and  irresistible  eloquence  found  in  the 
native  wood-notes  wild  of  Patrick  Henry.  It 
could  not  be  said  of  him,  as  Grattan  said  of  Chat- 
ham, that  he  "resembled  sometimes  the  thunder 
and  sometimes  the  music  of  the  spheres,"  but  in 
crystal  clearness  he  was  unsurpassed.  No  man 
could  misunderstand  his  meaning,  and  behind  this 
there  were  qualities  which  touched  the  deepest 
springs  of  the  human  heart.  Many  eye-witnesses 
testified  that  Hamilton  moved  his  audience  to 
tears.  It  was  the  passionate  fervor  of  his  con- 
victions, the  profound  consciousness  of  his  au- 
dience that  he  paid  them  the  high  tribute  of  an 
appeal  to  the  deepest  and  purest  sources  of  their 
patriotism.  Reasonable  differences  he  dispelled 
by  the  illuminative  processes  of  his  mind.  Im- 
movable hostility  he  destroyed  by  the  concen- 
trated flame  of  reason's  whitest  heat. 

When  the  new  government  is  formed,  and  the 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON         173 

Department  is  created,  he  is  at  once  appointed  by 
Washington  as  the  first  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
In  ten  days  he  is  directed  by  the  new  Congress  to 
prepare  and  report  upon  the  public  credit.  That 
this  involves  his  whole  financial  policy  does  not 
prevent  that  body  from  requesting  him  to  report 
also  full  details  for  the  raising,  management,  and 
collection  of  the  revenue,  for  revenue  cutters,  for 
estimates  of  income  and  expenditure,  for  the  tem- 
porary regulation  of  the  currency,  for  navigation 
laws  and  the  regulation  of  the  coasting  trade,  for 
the  proper  management  of  the  public  lands,  upon 
all  claims  against  the  Government,  and  for  the 
purchase  of  West  Point.  With  the  utmost  celerity 
the  young  Secretary  disposes  of  all  these  matters, 
and,  in  addition,  voluntarily  suggests  a  scheme  for 
a  judicial  system. 

He  obtains  money  for  the  immediate  necessities 
of  the  Government,  sometimes  pledging  his  own 
credit,  and  then  devises  the  vast  financial  machin- 
ery of  the  Treasury  Department,  and  the  system 
of  accounting  which  in  efficient  principle  survives 
to  the  present  time. 

The  ineffaceable  impression  he  makes  is  in  the 
early  days  of  our  legislative  history.  In  his  first 
great  report  on  the  public  credit  he  announces  prin- 
ciples, which  when  observed  have  been  rewarded 
with  a  national  prosperity  such  as  the  world  has 
never  known,  but  when,  for  the  hour,  avoided,  the 
punishment  as  swiftly  comes  in  bankruptcy,  dis- 
aster, panic,  and  dismay.  His  entire  system  is 
based  upon  the  most  scrupulous  unvarying  honor 
in  the  discharge  of  national  obligations.  In  his 
own  language  he  expresses  it  all,  "to  justify  and 
preserve  the  confidence  of  the  most  enlightened 


i74        ALEXANDER  HAMILTON 

friends  of  good  government;  to  promote  the  in- 
creasing respectability  of  the  American  name;  to 
answer  the  calls  of  justice;  to  restore  landed  prop- 
erty to  its  due  value;  to  cement  more  closely  the 
union  of  the  States;  to  add  to  their  security  against 
foreign  attack;  to  establish  public  order  on  the 
basis  of  an  upright  and  liberal  policy — these  are 
the  great  and  invaluable  ends  to  be  secured  by  a 
proper  and  adequate  provision  for  the  support  of 
public  credit." 

It  is  obviously  impossible  upon  an  occasion  like 
this  to  discuss  even  the  principal  topics  of  those 
momentous  concerns,  to  which  Hamilton's  original 
and  constructive  powers  were  successively  devoted. 
It  will  suffice  to  say  that  his  report  on  manufac- 
tures is  the  first,  and  by  many  believed  to  be  the 
greatest,  argument  ever  made  in  maintenance  of 
the  principle  and  the  wisdom  of  protection  of  the 
manufactured  products  of  the  American  people 
against  injurious  competition  from  other  lands. 
It  was  instantly  declared  by  Jefferson,  his  great 
rival,  to  be  designed  "to  grasp  for  Congress  con- 
trol of  all  matters  which  they  should  deem  for  the 
public  welfare  and  which  were  susceptible  of  the 
application  of  money."  His  second  report  urging 
the  establishment  of  an  excise  tax  is  the  basis  of 
the  internal  revenue  system.  The  national  bank- 
ing is  Hamilton's.  His  great  argument  on  a  na- 
tional bank,  evoking  for  the  first  time  the  implied 
powers  of  the  Constitution,  hurriedly  prepared 
amid  the  multitudinous  and  laborious  duties  of  his 
station,  will  ever  cause  men  to  accord  to  him, 
among  his  other  amazing  powers,  a  high  place  in 
the  front  rank  of  the  profession  of  the  law.  Here 
for  the  first  time  is  discovered  the  clear,  but  seem- 
ingly unfathomed,  depths  of  that  well-spring  of 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON         175 

national  authority  which  has  sustained  the  pur- 
poses of  the  nation  to  enact  any  and  all  laws,  which 
may  at  home  at  once  make  effective  the  letter  of 
the  organic  law,  and  advance  the  welfare  of  the 
American  people,  and  abroad,  to  give  to  the  just, 
righteous,  and  beneficial  conclusions  of  American 
civilization,  expressed  by  American  administra- 
tion, supported  by  the  moral,  and  if  need  be  the 
physical  influence  of  the  great  Republic,  the  force 
and  effect  of  international  law. 

It  is  true  that  this  doctrine  of  Hamilton  and  his 
followers,  to  use  the  simile  of  Jefferson  on  an- 
other portentous  occasion,  was  "like  a  fire  bell  in 
the  night."  To  write  the  history  of  the  resulting 
struggles  over  this  basic  principle  of  the  national 
existence,  as  parties  reeled  and  staggered  in  the 
conflicts  of  the  forum  or  in  the  deadlier  conflicts 
of  the  field,  would  be  to  write  the  history  of  the 
country  since  that  time;  but  that  Hamilton  was 
right  and  eternally  right  will  no  longer  admit  of 
serious  discussion.  To  deny  it  would  be  to  sweep 
from  the  statute  books  the  entire  criminal  juris- 
diction of  the  United  States  courts.  Blot  from  the 
American  system  the  Hamiltonian  doctrine  of  the 
Implied  Powers,  and  the  fame  of  our  jurisprudence 
would  wither  and  perish  like  Jonah's  gourd.  The 
public  buildings  which  house  our  officials  and  pro- 
tect our  records,  the  forts  and  batteries  on  our 
boundaries,  the  friendly  lights  which  guide  the 
mariner,  the  granitic  walls  of  the  great  locks  on 
the  Great  Lakes,  through  whose  portals  float  in 
safety  a  tonnage  greater  and  more  profitable  than 
that  which  rides  over  the  waves  of  ocean,  the  stu- 
pendous works  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi, 
the  incessant  clanking  of  those  gigantic  engines 
now  cutting  an  inter-oceanic  path  for  the  maritime 


176        ALEXANDER  HAMILTON 

commerce  of  the  world,  these  and  much  more  like 
these  would  be  but  the  successive  monuments  of  an 
usurping  government,  and  a  lawless,  and  therefore 
a  decadent  people.  Whether  it  be  for  an  appro- 
priation to  maintain  a  range  light,  or  to  relieve 
the  agonized  people  of  a  city  whose  homes  have 
crumbled  by  the  upheaval  of  the  earthquake  and 
the  horrid  sweep  of  the  conflagration,  all  is  trace- 
able to  that  source  of  governmental  authority  for- 
ever residing  in  the  implied  powers  of  the  Con- 
stitution. Hamilton  had  seen  and  known  the  con- 
dition of  our  country  when  it  seemed,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Washington,  that  it  would  resolve  itself 
into  the  "withered  fragments  of  empire."  With 
his  illustrious  compatriots,  he  educated  Patrick 
Henry's  three  millions  "armed  in  the  holy  cause 
of  liberty,"  and  their  children,  to  the  knowledge 
that  all  liberty  is  worthless  save  liberty  under  the 
law,  and  effective  law.  He  now  saw  the  roseate 
blush  of  the  nation's  dawn.  It  enchanted  his  pre- 
scient and  prophetic  vision.  Well  might  he  have 
exclaimed  as  did  old  Sam  Adam,  when  the  shot 
of  the  embattled  farmers  rang  out  on  that  memor- 
able April  dawn  so  many  years  before,  "Oh,  what 
a  glorious  morning  is  this!"  But,  alas,  that 

"Base  envy  that  withers  at  another's  joy, 
And  hates  the  excellence  it  cannot  reach," 

should  so  soon  mark  him  for  its  own. 

For  two  years  more  than  a  century,  the  mortal 
remains  of  this  great  man  have  rested  in  the 
churchyard  of  old  Trinity.  Millions  of  his  coun- 
trymen, on  crowded  Broadway,  annually  pass  in 
a  few  feet  of  the  spot  where  his  ashes  repose.  The 
small  city  where  he  labored,  and  lived,  and  died, 
has  become  one  of  the  greatest  on  earth.  Gigantic 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON         177 

structures  devoted  to  the  trade,  commerce,  trans- 
portation, and  banking  of  the  world,  to  which  his 
genius  imparted  so  much,  tower  above  the  grace- 
ful spires  of  the  old  church  and  cast  their  shad- 
ows over  the  sward  where  the  forefathers  of  the 
city  and  of  the  nation  sleep.  Across  the  way  in 
a  short  and  narrow  street  the  wealth  of  this  and 
other  nations  is  concentered  for  the  service  and 
for  the  advancement  of  every  interest  of  a  mighty 
people.  The  trains,  laden  with  their  human 
freight,  thunder  hard  by  the  lonely  grave,  or  rum- 
ble in  subways  far  beneath  its  level.  The  beauti- 
ful river  across  which  so  many  years  ago  he  went 
to  meet  his  mortal  enemy,  and  his  fate,  sends  forth 
year  after  year  bread  to  feed  nations,  whose  names 
the  sleeper  never  heard,  the  manufactured  neces- 
sities of  life,  of  which  the  sleeper  never  dreamed. 
Not  inappropriate,  then,  is  his  resting-place.  Yet 
magnificent  as  are  the  environments  of  his  grave, 
to  this  man  who  "thought  continentally"  there 
may  be  a  vision  nobler  by  far.  It  is  in  the  happy 
homes  of  eighty  millions  of  American  people,  a 
people  whose  domain  stretches  from  the  tropical 
frondage  of  Porto  Rico  to  Alaska's  frozen  strand; 
from  the  granitic  shores  of  Maine,  to  that  won- 
drous archipelago  of  the  Orient,  where  but  lately 
the  guns  of  our  gallant  squadron  proclaimed  that 
the  genius  of  American  civilization  had  come  to 
stay.  And  if,  as  we  fondly  trust,  the  souls  of 
those  we  love,  who  precede  us,  are  permitted  to 
welcome  and  to  know  those  who  follow,  may  it 
not  be  true,  after  all  of  life  is  over,  that  the  young 
comrade  and  compatriot  heard,  as  at  Yorktown, 
the  words,  "The  work  is  done  and  well  done," 
from  the  majestic  voice  of  the  Father  of  his 
Country. 


FACING   PACE    179 


JOHN  MARSHALL* 

INTRODUCTORY   ADDRESS 

Of  the  Honorable  Robert  Falligant,  Judge  of  the 
Superior  Court  of  Chatham  County,  on  the  occa- 
sion of  its  delivery  at  Savannah,  Ga.: 

"LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

"This  occasion  should  be  one  of  deep  impress 
to  every  patriotic  American.  We  are  here  to  do 
homage  to  the  character,  ability,  and  illustrious 
services  of  the  greatest  of  Chief  Justices  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  upon  the  cen- 
tennial of  his  accession  to  that  high  and  dignified 
office.  The  Bench  and  Bar  of  the  country  unite 
this  day  with  the  people  all  over  the  land  in  univer- 
sal acclaim  of  Chief  Justice  John  Marshall. 

"A  great  English  statesman  said,  'The  Ameri- 
can Constitution  is  the  most  wonderful  work  ever 
struck  off  at  a  given  time  by  the  brain  and  purpose 
of  man.'  John  Marshall  became  and  was  the 
great  expounder  of  its  dormant  and  far  reaching 
powers.  'He  helped  to  achieve  independence  by 
his  sword  in  his  youth,  and  in  his  manhood  created 
a  nation  by  his  judicial  pen.'  Of  him  it  has  been 
felicitously  said,  'Marshall  found  the  Constitu- 
tion paper  and  made  it  a  power;  he  found  it  a 
skeleton  and  clothed  it  with  flesh  and  blood.' 


*Delivered  on  the  Centenary  of  the  accession  of  Chief  Jus- 
tice Marshall  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  in 
the  District  Court  room,  at  Savannah,  Georgia,  February  4th, 
1901 ;  and  subsequently,  as  one  of  the  Lectures  on  the  Storrs 
Foundation,  at  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  May,  1906. 

179 


i8o  JOHN   MARSHALL 

"Those  familiar  with  our  earlier  history  recall 
the  intensity  of  party  passion  perhaps  fiercer  than 
at  any  other  period.  When  the  great  constitu- 
tional decisions  were  pronounced,  which  are  the 
foundation  of  Marshall's  imperishable  fame,  an- 
other great  Virginia  patriot  and  thinker,  Thomas 
Jefferson,  read  them  with  consternation.  Jealous 
of  the  reserved  rights  of  the  States  he  wrote,  'The 
germ  of  the  dissolution  of  our  Federal  Govern- 
ment is  in  the  constitution  of  the  Federal  judiciary, 
an  irresponsible  party  working  like  gravity  by 
night  and  by  day,  gaining  a  little  to-day  and  a  lit- 
tle to-morrow  and  advancing  its  noiseless  step  like 
a  thief  over  the  field  of  jurisdiction  until  all  shall 
be  usurped  from  the  States  and  the  government 
of  all  be  consolidated  into  one.' 

"The  political  history  of  our  country  was  con- 
stantly agitated  by  conflicting  constitutional  inter- 
pretations. Some  were  settled  by  that  august  tri- 
bunal the  Supreme  Court,  which  Marshall  regarded 
the  final  arbiter,  but  others  remained  burning  ques- 
tions until  the  fires  were  quenched  in  patriot  blood 
and  a  final  decision  rendered  in  the  awful  arbitra- 
ment of  the  fiercest  and  most  prolonged  civil  war 
the  world  has  known. 

"It  was  said  of  an  ancient  hero,  'Ulysses  has 
gone  upon  his  travels  and  there  is  none  in  Ithaca 
can  bend  his  bow.' 

"This  was  never  true  of  America.  In  all  crises 
of  her  history  men  have  arisen  to  fill  and  illustrate 
the  full  measure  of  their  country's  greatness.  Since 
the  days  of  Marshall  no  justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  has  been  regarded  by  the  Bench  and  Bar  of 
the  country  as  more  able  than  the  late  Associate 
Justice  Samuel  F.  Miller.  In  the  light  of  Jeffer- 


JOHN   MARSHALL  181 

son's  prophetic  words  it  is  well  to  recall  what 
Associate  Justice  Miller  said  on  the  occasion  of 
the  Centennial  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  Our  country  had  but  recently  emerged 
from  the  supreme  test  of  the  most  colossal  and 
titanic  struggle  of  history.  As  the  mouthpiece  of 
the  Supreme  Court  he  said: 

"  'May  it  be  long  before  such  an  awful  lesson 
is  again  needed  to  decide  upon  disputed  questions 
of  constitutional  law.  It  is  not  out  of  place  to  re- 
mark that  while  the  pendulum  of  public  opinion 
was  swung  with  much  force  away  from  the  ex- 
treme point  of  States-right  doctrine,  there  may  be 
danger  of  its  reaching  the  extreme  point  on  the 
other  side.  In  my  opinion  the  just  and  equal  ob- 
servance of  the  rights  of  the  States  and  of  the 
General  Government,  as  defined  by  the  present 
Constitution,  is  as  necessary  to  the  permanent  pros- 
perity of  our  country  and  to  its  existence  for  an- 
other century,  as  it  has  been  for  the  one  whose 
close  we  are  now  celebrating.' 

"I  must  apologize  for  this  brief  glance  at  a 
great  past  because  I  know  you  are  eagerly  awaiting 
the  thrilling  touch  of  a  master  hand.  The  man 
and  the  occasion  meet  in  a  brilliant  and  distin- 
guished Georgian;  and  I  as  a  Georgian  take  pe- 
culiar pride  and  pleasure  in  introducing  one  whose 
fame  is  already  national  as  a  jurist,  statesman, 
and  orator,  in  the  plenitude  of  his  splendid  intel- 
lectual culture  and  power  and  in  all  the  glory  of 
his  matchless  eloquence,  the  Hon.  Emory  Speer." 

ADDRESS  OF  JUDGE  SPEER 

Of  John  Marshall  William  Pinckney  exclaimed, 
"He  was  born  to  be  the  Chief  Justice  of  any  coun- 


1 82  JOHN   MARSHALL 

try  in  which  Providence  should  have  cast  him." 
Petigru  of  South  Carolina  declared,  "The  fame 
of  the  Chief  Justice  has  justified  the  wisdom  of  the 
Constitution,  and  reconciled  the  jealousy  of  free- 
dom to  the  independence  of  the  judiciary."  His 
long  and  illustrious  career  inspired  the  pious  dec- 
laration of  Binney,  "The  Providence  of  God  is 
shown  most  beneficently  to  the  world  in  raising 
from  time  to  time,  and  in  crowning  with  length  of 
days,  men  of  preeminent  goodness  and  wisdom." 
To  the  labors  of  this  illustrious  American  and  to 
what  we  may  devoutly  believe  was  the  divinely 
ordered  prescience  of  his  mind,  more  than  to  all 
the  utterance  of  statesmen  living  or  dead,  more 
than  to  all  the  eloquence  which  has  "mastered, 
swayed,  and  moved  the  eminence  of  men's  affec- 
tions," is  to  be  ascribed  the  survival  of  American- 
ism, the  existence  of  our  mighty  federated  nation, 
and  the  lustre  of  those  unfading  stars  in  our  coun- 
try's ensign,  which  in  union  indestructible  will  now 
forever  shine. 

On  the  24th  of  September,  1755,  John  Marshall 
was  born  in  the  beautiful  county  of  Fauquier  in 
Virginia.  This  county  was  nearly  a  century  after- 
wards famous  with  the  veterans  of  Lee  as 
"Mosby's  Confederacy."  It  is  even  now  a  coin- 
cidence, not  without  its  interest,  that  children  who 
gather  there  on  the  arrival  of  the  train  at  the  little 
station  of  Midland,  may  point  the  attention  of  the 
traveler  to  the  crumbling  ruin  where  first  saw  the 
light  the  mighty  expounder  of  the  great  instrument 
of  our  Union,  and  by  the  handful  will  offer  for 
sale  the  thickly  strewn  rifle-balls,  there  fired  in  the 
great  war  for  its  disruption. 

The  father  of  the   future  Chief  Justice  was 


JOHN  MARSHALL  183 

Thomas  Marshall.  He  came  from  the  celebrated 
county  of  Westmoreland,  once  referred  to  by  a 
Governor  of  Virginia,  with  that  State  pride  not 
yet  wholly  extinct  in  the  sons  of  the  Old  Dominion, 
as  "the  prolific  soil  that  grows  Presidents."  It  is 
true  that  Washington,  Madison,  and  Monroe  all 
came  from  the  county  of  that  sturdy  patriot,  the 
father  of  the  famous  Chief  Justice.  Marshall, 
the  father,  was  born  the  same  year  with  Washing- 
ton. He  was  indeed  the  companion  of  the  patriot 
commander,  when  the  latter  in  after  years  sur- 
veyed for  his  friend  Lord  Fairfax  the  primeval 
wilderness,  shading  with  its  imperial  frondage  the 
fertile  and  picturesque  valley  of  Virginia,  and, 
like  Washington,  he  also  was  one  of  the  first  to 
fly  to  arms,  to  resist  the  aggressions  of  the  British 
Ministry.  He  was  successively  colonel  in  the 
Third  Virginia  Infantry,  Woodford's  Brigade, 
and  the  First  Virginia  Artillery,  in  the  Continental 
line.  He  fought  with  distinguished  valor  at  Ger- 
mantown  and  Brandywine,  having  three  horses 
killed  under  him,  and  largely  through  his  skill  and 
courage  at  Brandywine,  the  defeated  Continental 
forces  were  enabled  to  extricate  themselves  from 
complete  disaster.  Two  years  after  the  Treaty 
of  Peace,  Colonel  Marshall,  with  the  younger 
members  of  his  family,  traversed  the  romantic 
passes  of  the  westward  mountains,  and  a  leader 
among  those  tall  and  stark  hunters  who  drove  the 
savage  from  the  "Dark  and  Bloody  Ground,"  he 
built  a  new  home  in  the  "heart  of  the  Bluegrass" 
in  a  now  renowned  county  of  Kentucky,  which  he 
named  Woodford,  in  honor  of  the  brigadier  under 
whom  in  days  past  he  had  fought  for  independence. 
Of  Marshall,  the  father,  Justice  Story  recounts: 


1 84  JOHN    MARSHALL 

"I  have  often  heard  the  Chief  Justice  speak  in 
terms  of  the  deepest  affection  and  reverence.  I 
do  not  here  refer  to  his  public  remarks,  but  to  his 
private  and  familiar  conversations  with  me,  when 
there  was  no  other  listener.  Indeed,  he  never 
named  his  father  on  these  occasions  without  dwell- 
ing on  his  character  with  a  fond  and  winning  en- 
thusiasm. It  was  a  theme  on  which  he  broke  out 
with  spontaneous  eloquence,  and  in  a  spirit  of  the 
most  persuasive  confidence  he  would  delight  to 
expatiate  upon  his  virtues  and  talents.  'My 
father,'  would  he  say  with  kindred  feelings  and 
emphasis,  'my  father  was  a  far  abler  man  than 
any  of  his  sons.  To  him  I  owe  the  solid  founda- 
tion of  all  my  own  success  in  life.'  '  O  what  filial 
love  was  this !  What  testimony  to  the  nobility  of 
father  and  of  son  !  In  all  that  makes  for  elevation 
of  character,  for  breadth  of  thought,  for  courage- 
ous and  conscientious  manhood,  the  young  Vir- 
ginian enjoyed  a  heritage  more  priceless  than  all 
the  wealth  accumulated  by  the  greed  of  all  the 
titled  misers, 

"Whose  ancient  but  ignoble  blood 
Has  crept  through  scoundrels  since  the  flood." 

The  mother  of  John  Marshall  belongs  to  that 
period  in  the  society  of  the  Old  Dominion  so  de- 
lightfully portrayed  by  Thackeray  in  his  "Virgin- 
ians." But  we  may  safely  conclude  that,  unlike  the 
"Lady  Esmonds"  of  her  time,  she  did  not  in  stately 
brocades  or  rustling  silks  glide  through  the  mazes 
of  the  minuet,  or  prance  with  alacrity  in  the  contra 
dance.  She  had  other  engagement.  She  was  the 
mother  of  fifteen  children,  of  whom  the  future 
Chief  Justice  was  the  eldest,  and  such  was  her 


JOHN    MARSHALL  185 

solicitous  care  that  she  reared  them  all  until  they 
were  grown  and  married.  Had  our  observant 
President  been  the  contemporary  of  that  charm- 
ing Virginia  dame,  he  might  never  have  been 
affrighted  by  certain  forebodings  with  which  he  has 
enlivened  the  apprehensions  of  his  patriot  coun- 
trymen. Her  maiden  name  was  Mary  Isham 
Keith.  Her  father  was  an  Episcopal  minister,  and 
a  full  cousin  of  that  famous  Field  Marshal  James 
Keith,  perhaps  the  most  renowned  of  the  lieuten- 
ants of  the  Great  Frederick.  It  has  been  said  that 
great  men  get  their  greatness  from  the  mother's 
side.  Certain  it  is  that  in  Carlyle's  "Life  of  Fred- 
erick the  Great"  are  recorded  many  traits  of  Field 
Marshal  Keith  which  are  clearly  discernible  in  his 
American  cousin.  "He  is  a  soldier  of  fortune, 
and,  like  the  expatriated  Scottish  gentlemen  of 
that  day,  offers  his  sword  wherever  he  may  have 
honorable  service.  Frederick  attentively  watches 
Keith  while  he  is  serving  the  Czar,  and  concludes 
that  what  he  does  is  done  in  a  solid,  quietly  emi- 
nent, and  valiant  manner."  "Sagacious,  skilful, 
imperturbable,  without  fear  and  without  noise,  a 
man  quietly  ever  ready."  Finally,  nine  years  be- 
fore our  Chief  Justice  is  born,  Keith's  service  with 
the  Russians  being  ended,  Frederick  grasps  eagerly 
at  the  Scottish  soldier's  offer  to  serve  him.  "Well 
worth  talking  to,  though  left  very  dim  to  us  in  the 
books,"  writes  the  same  biographer,  of  a  later  pe- 
riod, "is  Marshal  Keith,  who  has  been  growing 
gradually  with  the  King,  and  with  everybody  ever 
since  he  came  to  these  parts  in  1747.  A  man  of 
Scotch  type;  the  broad  accent,  with  its  sagacities, 
veracities,  with  its  steadfastly  fixed  moderation, 
and  its  sly  twinkles  of  defensive  humor,  is  still 


1 86  JOHN    MARSHALL 

audible  to  us  through  the  foreign  wrappages.  Not 
given  to  talk,  unless  there  is  something  to  be  said, 
but  well  capable  of  it  then."  John  Marshall  might 
have  sat  for  that  picture.  All  through  the  won- 
derful pages  of  this  story  of  the  last  of  the  great 
Kings,  this  Scotch  cousin  of  John  Marshall  is  show- 
ing these  Marshall  traits.  At  the  famed  battle 
of  Prague,  fought  May  6,  1757,  which  sounded 
throughout  all  the  world  in  that  day,  and  since 
then  commemorated  in  a  composition  alleged  to 
be  musical,  with  which  vigorous  amateurs,  mostly 
feminine,  have  belabored  pianos  and  deafened 
mankind.  All  through  that  terrible  Seven  Years' 
War,  until  the  bloody  day  at  Hochkirch,  where, 
having  saved  the  Prussian  Army,  shot  through  the 
heart,  "Keith's  fightings  are  suddenly  all  done." 
"In  Hochkirch  Church,"  writes  Carlyle,  "there  is 
still  a  fine,  modestly  impressive  monument  to 
Keith;  modest  urn  of  black  marble  on  a  pedestal 
of  gray,  and  in  gold  letters  an  inscription,"  in 
Latin,  which  "goes  through  you  like  the  clang  of 
steel."  But  four  months  after  his  death,  by  royal 
order  Keith's  remains  were  conveyed  to  Berlin, 
and  with  all  the  honors  and  all  the  regrets  were 
reinterred  in  the  Garnison  Kirche  there,  and  the 
lament  of  the  great  Scotch  writer  is  like  the  wail 
of  the  pibroch  as  it  chants  "Lochaber  No  More"; 
"Far  from  bonnie  Inverugie;  the  hoarse  sea  winds 
and  caverns  of  Dunottar  singing  vague  requiem 
to  his  honorable  line  and  him."  "My  brother 
leaves  me  a  noble  legacy,"  said  the  old  Lord  Mar- 
ischal.  "Last  year,  he  had  Bohemia  in  ransom; 
and  his  personal  estate  is  70  ducats  (about  25 
pounds)."  "Frederick's  sorrow  over  him  is  itself 
a  monument.  Twenty  years  after,  Keith  had  from 


JOHN    MARSHALL  187 

his  master  a  statue,  in  Berlin,  which  still  stands 
in  the  Wilhelm  Platz  there." 

Early  evincing  the  power  and  saneness  of  his 
mind  by  a  strong  love  of  literature,  it  is  said  that 
the  future  Chief  Justice  at  the  age  of  twelve  could 
recite  a  large  portion  of  the  writings  of  Pope,  and 
was  familiar  with  Dryden,  Shakespeare,  and  Mil- 
ton. At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  was  sent  to  the 
classical  academy  of  the  Messrs.  Campbell,  Scotch- 
men, who  had  established  a  famous  school  in 
Westmoreland  County,  where  Washington  and 
Munroe  and  many  other  famous  Virginians  had 
received  instruction. 

At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  began  the  study  of 
law,  but  was  not  long  permitted  to  devote  himself 
to  the  service  of  that  jealous  mistress.  The  war 
of  the  Revolution  came,  and  the  volunteers  of  Cul- 
peper,  Orange,  and  Fauquier  counties  organized 
themselves  into  a  regiment  of  minute-men.  Walk- 
ing twenty  miles  to  attend  the  first  drill,  his  neigh- 
bors gave  him  the  appointment  of  first  lieutenant 
in  one  of  the  companies.  The  military  career  of 
the  future  Chief  Justice  was  not  brilliant,  but  it 
was  marked  by  quiet  endurance,  active  service  and 
constant  valor.  He  was  personally  engaged  with 
his  command  at  the  bloody  defeats  of  Brandy- 
wine  and  Germantown,  at  the  scarcely  less  bloody, 
but  partial  victory,  on  that  torrid  and  famous  day 
at  Monmouth,  and,  with  the  utmost  loyalty  to  the 
patriot  cause,  went  into  winter  quarters  at  Valley 
Forge,  where  also  were  his  father  and  two  broth- 
ers with  Washington's  starving  and  depleted  army. 
The  story  of  that  memorable  encampment  is  ra- 
diant with  glory  for  our  Revolutionary  sires.  The 
cold  was  intense,  and  yet  the  soldiers  were  often 


1 88  JOHN    MARSHALL 

almost  naked,  and  as  a  rule  they  were  without 
shoes,  so  that  they  could  be  tracked  by  the  blood 
from  their  frozen  feet.  A  mess-mate  of  Marshall 
during  this  period  was  Lieutenant  Phillip  Slaugh- 
ter. He  relates  that  his  own  supply  of  linen  was 
one  shirt,  and  that  while  having  this  washed,  he 
wrapped  himself  in  a  blanket.  All  the  while  that 
renowned  Prussian  martinet,  Baron  Steuben,  was 
drilling  the  Continental  Army,  and  Slaughter  had 
wristbands  and  a  collar  made  from  the  bosom  of 
his  shirt  to  complete  his  uniform  for  parade.  Had 
he  been  compelled  to  throw  off  his  coat,  like  the 
vest  of  Porthos,  when  D'Artagnan,  as  recounted 
in  Dumas'  great  story,  jerked  off  his  cloak,  the 
undergarment,  while  sufficient  in  form,  would  have 
been  lacking  in  substance.  Of  Marshall  this  com- 
rade writes  affectionately: 

"He  was  the  best  tempered  man  I  ever  knew. 
During  his  sufferings  at  Valley  Forge,  nothing 
discouraged,  nothing  disturbed  him.  If  he  had 
only  bread  to  eat,  it  was  just  as  well ;  if  only  meat, 
it  made  no  difference.  If  any  of  the  officers  mur- 
mured at  the  deprivations,  he  would  shame  them 
by  his  good-natured  raillery,  or  encourage  them 
by  his  own  exuberance  of  spirits.  He  was  an  ex- 
cellent companion,  and  idolized  by  the  soldiers  and 
his  brother  officers,  whose  gloomy  hours  he  en- 
livened by  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  anecdote." 

Many  Americans,  great  intellectually,  have  been 
noted  for  their  athletic  powers.  Such  a  man  was 
the  famous  Walter  T.  Colquitt  of  Georgia,  who 
was  as  effective  in  the  prize  ring  as  in  the  pulpit, 
in  the  rough-and-tumble  fight  in  the  court-house 
and  in  the  court-house  square.  Such  another  was 
Benjamin  H.  Hill,  who  in  my  judgment  was  never 


JOHN    MARSHALL  189 

surpassed  in  the  forum,  on  the  stump,  or  in  the 
Senate,  and  who  as  a  wrestler  would  have  been 
worthy  of  a  place  in  the  Olympic  Games.  The 
gigantic  strength  of  Abraham  Lincoln  was  well 
known.  And  young  Marshall  was  no  exception 
to  men  of  this  class.  President  Quincey  relates 
that  early  in  the  century  he  heard  Southern  men  in 
Washington  declare  that  Marshall  was  the  only 
man  in  Washington's  army  who  could  put  a  stick 
on  the  heads  of  two  persons  of  his  own  height, 
six  feet,  and  clear  it  at  a  running  jump.  In  a  foot 
race  he  was  like  the  winged-footed  Mercury,  and 
as  he  ran  in  stocking  feet,  the  soldiers  bestowed 
upon  him  the  affectionate  nickname  "Silver  Heels" 
from  the  color  of  the  yarn  with  which  his  good 
mother  had  finished  the  heel  of  his  black  stockings. 
It  was  at  this  period  that  he  first  began  to  show 
his  judicial  capacity  and  fairness  of  mind.  He  was 
constantly  chosen  by  his  brother  officers  to  decide 
their  many  disputes,  and  his  judgments  in  writing 
were  usually  accompanied  by  such  sound  reasons 
that  the  irritable  disputants  were  generally  satis- 
fied. In  addition  to  his  service  in  the  field,  he  was 
appointed  Deputy  Judge-Advocate  of  the  Army, 
and  thrown  into  close  personal  relations  with 
Washington,  won  the  enduring  confidence  and  affec- 
tion of  His  Excellency.  It  appears,  however,  that 
the  patriots  had  need  for  his  services,  other  than 
judicial.  He  was  promoted  to  a  captaincy  on  the 
battlefield  of  Brandywine,  and,  as  stated,  fought 
at  Monmouth,  at  Germantown,  at  Iron  Hill,  and 
Paulus  Hook.  He  was  a  member  of  the  party 
covering  the  forlorn  hope,  who  under  "Mad  An- 
thony" Wayne  swarmed  up  the  precipitous  height 
at  Stony  Point,  and  with  the  bayonet  mastered  en- 


1 90  JOHN    MARSHALL 

trenchments  which  the  leaders  of  the  British  Army 
had  deemed  impregnable.  That  part  of  the  Vir- 
ginia line  to  which  he  was  attached  being  now  mus- 
tered out,  left  without  a  command,  the  young  offi- 
cer returned  to  Virginia  to  obtain  service  with  the 
new  levies  from  that  State.  Repairing  to  the  old 
capital  at  Williamsburg  to  await  the  hesitating 
action  of  the  State  legislature,  he  seized  the  oppor- 
tunity to  attend  the  law  lectures  delivered  by  the 
famous  Chancellor  Wythe  of  William  and  Mary 
College,  and  as  a  consequence,  in  the  ensuing  sum- 
mer, was  enabled  to  obtain  a  license  to  practice 
law. 

We  may  not  safely  conclude  that  at  this  period 
of  his  young  and  vigorous  life,  it  was  all  work  and 
no  play  with  the  soldier  student.  At  Williams- 
burg,  according  to  a  biographer  of  Jefferson, 
"there  were  cakes  and  ale  in  those  days,  young 
girls,  and  dancing  at  the  Raleigh  tavern,  cards  and 
horses;  and  the  young  Virginians  had  their  full 
share  of  all  these  good  things."  Later  in  life  he 
took  wine  only  when  it  rained,  but  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  remark  to  Justice  Story  that  his  judicial 
territory  was  so  great,  that  although  it  might  be 
clear  at  Washington,  it  must  be  raining  somewhere 
in  his  jurisdiction.  While  reading  law  and  enjoy- 
ing the  halcyon  days  of  youth,  Marshall  did  not 
fail  to  make  repeated  efforts  to  again  obtain  serv- 
ice with  the  patriot  forces,  and  with  that  hope  ac- 
tually walked  from  Virginia  to  Philadelphia.  The 
war,  however,  was  about  over.  There  was  a  re- 
dundancy of  officers  of  the  Virginia  line,  and  no 
additional  troops  being  raised,  he  was  unwilling 
to  remain  longer  a  supernumerary,  and  in  1781 
the  future  Chief  Justice  resigned  his  commission, 


JOHN    MARSHALL  191 

and  entered  upon  the  practice  of  the  law  in  his  na- 
tive county  of  Fauquier.  The  young  lawyer  rose 
rapidly  at  the  bar.  His  success  was  steady  and 
progressive.  With  a  Keith-like  modesty  he  as- 
cribed it  to  the  friendship  of  his  old  comrades-in- 
arms, a  soldierly  attribute  which  in  later  days  has 
contributed  reward  and  renown,  both  legal  and 
political,  to  some  of  our  own  contemporaries. 

The  close  of  the  Revolution  was  a  fortunate 
period  for  the  young  practitioner.  The  changes 
of  property,  innumerable  outstanding  debts,  con- 
tracts, and  old  controversies  long  delayed,  were 
fruitful  sources  of  litigation,  profitable — at  least 
to  counsel.  So  remarkable  was  the  success  of  Mar- 
shall, that  after  two  years'  practice  in  Fauquier  and 
adjacent  counties  he  had  established  a  reputation, 
augmented  by  his  distinguished  services  in  the  Vir- 
ginia Assembly,  which  justified  him  in  removing 
his  office  to  Richmond,  where  almost  at  once  he 
took  the  lead  among  the  renowned  lawyers  of  that 
famous  capital.  And  they  were  indeed  foemen 
worthy  of  his  steel.  Among  them  were  such  names 
as  James  Ennis,  Alexander  Campbell,  Benjamin 
Botts,  Edmund  Randolph,  John  Wickham,  and 
most  famous  and  best  beloved  of  all,  Patrick 
Henry. 

The  eloquent  William  Wirt  has  left  us  a  graphic 
account  of  Marshall's  style  of  argument  in  the 
courts.  "All  his  eloquence  consists  in  the  ap- 
parently deep  self-conviction,  and  the  emphatic 
earnestness  of  his  manner;  the  correspondent 
simplicity  and  energy  of  his  style;  the  close  and 
logical  connection  of  his  thoughts;  and  the  easy 
gradations  by  which  he  opens  his  lights  on  the 
attentive  minds  of  his  hearers.  The  audience  are 


1 92  JOHN    MARSHALL 

never  permitted  to  pause  for  a  moment.  There 
is  no  stopping  to  weave  garlands  of  flowers,  to 
hang  in  festoons  around  a  favorite  argument.  On 
the  contrary,  every  sentence  is  progressive;  every 
idea  sheds  a  new  light  on  the  subject." 

On  January  3,  1783,  the  happy  young  manhood 
of  John  Marshall,  now  twenty-eight  years  of  age, 
received  its  crowning  joy  by  his  marriage  with 
Mary  Willis  Ambler,  a  daughter  of  Jaqueline 
Ambler,  Treasurer  of  Virginia.  The  purity  of 
his  thoughts,  the  charm  of  his  manner,  and  his 
unconcealed  admiration  for  the  fair  sex  made  him 
ever  a  favorite  with  the  members  of  that  last  and 
best  achievement  of  the  Creator.  We  are  afforded 
a  charming  account  of  his  meeting  with  his  sweet- 
heart by  a  letter  from  her  sister,  Mrs.  Edward 
Carrington,  published  in  "Colonial  Days  and 
Dames,"  by  Anne  Hollingsworth  Wharton.  It 
seems  that  the  bachelor  lawyer  had  a  mind  to  at- 
tend a  ball  at  York,  and  his  coming  was  not  un- 
heralded. "Our  expectations,"  writes  Mrs.  Car- 
rington, "were  raised  to  the  highest  pitch,  and  the 
little  circle  was  on  tiptoe  on  his  arrival.  Our  girls, 
particularly,  were  emulous  who  should  be  the  first 
introduced.  It  is  remarkable  that  my  sister,  then 
only  fourteen  and  diffident  beyond  all  others,  de- 
clared that  we  were  giving  ourselves  useless 
trouble,  for  that  she,  for  the  first  time,  had  made 
up  her  mind  to  go  to  the  ball  (though  she  had  not 
even  been  to  a  dancing-school),  and  was  resolved 
to  set  her  cap  at  him,  and  eclipse  us  all.  This  in 
the  end  proved  true,  and  at  the  first  introduction 
he  became  devoted  to  her."  It  is  interesting  to 
recall  the  fact  that  the  mother  of  Marshall's  sweet- 
heart was  Judy  Burwell,  the  "Belinda"  as  he  called 


JOHN    MARSHALL  193 

her,  after  the  euphuistic  fashion  of  the  time,  to 
whom  Thomas  Jefferson  had  made  a  limited  pro- 
posal of  marriage  some  twenty  years  or  more  be- 
fore. That  adolescent  statesman  told  his  "Be- 
linda" that  he  loved  her,  but  did  not  desire  at 
present  to  engage  himself,  since  he  wished  to  go 
to  Europe  for  an  indefinite  period,  but  he  said  that 
on  his  return,  if  his  affections  were  unchanged,  he 
would  finally  and  openly  commit  himself.  This 
early  "declaration  of  independence"  did  not  appeal 
to  "Belinda,"  and  the  laggard  in  lovewas  promptly 
dismissed.  A  little  more  fire  on  the  part  of  the 
future  sage  of  Monticello,  and  who  knows,  Jeffer- 
son might  have  been  the  father-in-law  of  Marshall. 
Their  historic  differences  might  have  been  adjusted 
in  family  councils,  or  terminated  by  conjugal  de- 
crees, for  then  as  now,  "the  hand  that  rocks  the 
cradle  is  the  hand  that  rules  the  world."  Marshall 
was  indeed  a  devoted  lover,  and  Justice  Story, 
after  his  wife's  death,  described  him  as  "the  most 
extraordinary  man  I  ever  saw  for  the  depth  and 
tenderness  of  his  feelings."  A  letter  written  to 
her  when  he  was  three  score  and  ten  betrays  how 
the  mind  of  the  old  man  reverted  to  those  blissful 
days  when  he  wooed  and  won  the  sweet  companion 
of  his  life.  He  had  received  an  injury  to  his  knee, 
about  which  Mrs.  Marshall  was  anxious.  "I  shall 
be  out,"  he  writes,  "in  a  few  days.  All  the  ladies 
of  the  Secretaries  have  been  to  see  me;  some  more 
than  once,  and  have  brought  me  more  jelly  than 
I  could  eat,  and  many  other  things.  I  thank  them, 
and  stick  to  my  barley  broth.  Still  I  have  lots  of 
time  on  my  hands.  How  do  you  think  I  beguile  it? 
You  must  know  I  begin  with  the  ball  at  York,  our 
splendid  assembly  in  the  Palace  in  Williamsburg. 


i94  JOHN    MARSHALL 

my  visit  to  Richmond  for  a  fortnight,  my  return 
to  the  field,  and  the  very  welcome  reception  you 
gave  me  on  my  arrival  at  Dover,  our  little  tiffs 
and  makings  up,  my  feelings  when  Major  Dick 
was  courting  you,  my  trip  to  the  Cottage  [the 
Ambler  Home  in  Hanover  county  where  he  was 
married],  the  thousand  little  incidents  deeply 
affecting  in  turn."  Surely  the  great  Chief  Justice 
shared  to  the  full  the  tender  sentiment  of  Tom 
Moore, — 

"There's  nothing  half  so  sweet  in  life 
As  love's  young  dream." 

We  now  approach  the  period  of  Marshall's 
achievements  as  a  statesman.  His  long  service 
in  the  army,  and  his  familiarities  with  the  diffi- 
culties that  Washington  and  the  country  had  en- 
countered, enabled  him  to  perceive  with  clearness 
the  defects  of  the  Government  which  had  for  a 
paper  title  the  old  Articles  of  Confederation. 

In  the  utter  absence  of  national  credit,  at  the 
end  of  the  year  1779,  a  continental  dollar  was 
worth  less  than  two  and  a  half  cents.  A  metaphor 
of  depreciation,  "not  worth  a  continental,"  origi- 
nated then,  and,  somewhat  expanded,  still  en- 
livens our  vocabulary.  Our  ally,  the  King  of 
France,  had  been  lending  us  money,  wrung  by  mer- 
ciless taxation  from  the  sans  culottes,  while  man 
for  man  the  American  people  were  far  richer  than 
the  people  of  France.  Such  is  the  paralysis  of 
government,  where  there  is  no  power  to  compel 
a  fair  distribution  of  its  burdens.  The  condition 
of  the  American  troops  was  indeed  pitiable.  Writ- 
ing to  that  beautiful  young  wife,  from  whose  arms 
he  had  flown  to  draw  his  stainless  sword  for  the 


JOHN    MARSHALL  195 

cause  of  freedom,  Marquis  de  LaFayette  declared, 
"No  European  army  would  suffer  the  one-tenth 
part  of  what  the  American  troops  suffer."  We 
have  the  authority  of  General  Greene  for  be- 
lieving that  nothing  held  them  together  "save  the 
influence  of  the  Commander-in-Chief,  whom  they 
almost  adore."  Indeed,  so  impotent  was  the  Gov- 
ernment that  it  was  difficult  to  get  a  quorum  of 
Congress  to  assemble  to  approve  the  Treaty  of 
Peace,  for  which  the  patriots  had  bled  and  suffered 
throughout  the  entire  war. 

To  no  other,  save  perhaps  to  Hamilton  and  to 
Washington,  were  these  conditions  more  plainly 
apparent  than  to  John  Marshall.  We  may  well 
believe  that  the  iron  had  entered  his  soul,  when 
with  patriotic  fire  he  had  trudged  afoot  from  Vir- 
ginia to  Philadelphia,  to  take  anew  his  place  with 
the  colors,  and  a  ragged,  penniless  captain  of  the 
Continental  line,  he  had  been  denied  admittance 
to  a  Philadelphia  inn.  How,  therefore,  must  John 
Marshall's  soul  have  thrilled  with  joy,  for  the 
fruition  of  the  work  of  that  immortal  body,  who, 
with  wisdom  "prophetic  and  prescient  of  whatever 
the  future  had  in  store,"  labored  with  swerveless 
devotion  to  construct  for  our  country  a  Constitu- 
tion worthy  of  its  heroic  past,  and  comprehending 
in  its  majestic  design  powers  to  provide  for  all  the 
exigencies  of  an  expanding  civilization,  unparal- 
leled in  the  annals  of  man,  securing  the  enlighten- 
ment, the  happiness,  the  freedom  of  uncounted 
millions  of  the  mighty  race,  who  in  ages  to  come 
will  turn  with  ever-increasing  adoration  to  the 
Flag  of  the  Freeman's  home  and  hope. 

Nor  was  this  great  Virginian  merely  a  senti- 
mental, idle  supporter  of  the  Constitution.  With 


i96  JOHN    MARSHALL 

an  unbreakable  hold  upon  the  affections  and  con- 
fidence of  his  people,  he  was  elected  to  the  Vir- 
ginia Convention  of  1788,  assembled  to  determine 
whether  the  Constitution  should  be  adopted.  The 
people  of  Henrico  County,  then  including  the  city 
of  Richmond,  with  unmistakable  majority  were 
opposed  to  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.  By 
the  witching  eloquence  of  Patrick  Henry  they  had 
been  wooed  into  a  devotion  for  separate  and  un- 
qualified State  sovereignty.  On  the  other  hand, 
John  Marshall  lost  no  opportunity  to  make  effect- 
ive his  cordial  advocacy  of  the  Constitution.  He 
was  assured  that  if  he  would  become  a  candidate, 
and  would  oblige  himself  to  vote  against  the  Con- 
stitution, all  opposition  would  be  withdrawn,  other- 
wise that  his  election  would  be  contested.  He  de- 
clared, "I  will  vote  for  the  Constitution  if  I  get  a 
chance." 

This  memorable  convention,  mainly  composed 
of  renowned  representatives  of  the  "first  families" 
of  Virginia,  met  in  Richmond  on  the  2d  of  June, 
1788.  Until  a  very  recent  period  the  people  of  the 
Southern  States,  perhaps  more  than  any  others, 
rejoiced  in  the  opportunity  to  hear  the  joint  dis- 
cussions of  their  famous  men,  and  the  Virginians 
of  that  day  afforded  no  exception  to  the  rule.  In 
his  "Life  of  Patrick  Henry,"  William  Wirt  in 
Ciceronian  phraseology  gives  us  a  lively  account 
of  the  momentous  gathering. 

"Gentlemen,"  writes  he,  "from  every  quarter 
of  the  State  were  seen  thronging  to  the  metropolis, 
and  speeding  their  eager  way  to  the  building  in 
which  the  convention  held  its  meeting.  Day  after 
day  from  morning  until  night,  the  galleries  of  the 
house  were  continually  filled  with  an  anxious 


JOHN    MARSHALL  197 

crowd,  who  forgot  the  inconvenience  of  their  sit- 
uation in  the  excess  of  their  enjoyment." 

Marshall  was  ever  more  prone  to  listen  than 
to  speak,  but  when  he  came  forward  with  quiet 
intrepidity,  as  Ivanhoe  in  the  lists  of  Ashby  smote 
with  the  point  of  his  lance,  and  rang  against  the 
shield  of  Brian  de  Bois  Guilbert,  so  the  young  Vir- 
ginian aimed  his  blows  at  the  Coryphaeus  of  the  op- 
position, the  redoubtable  Patrick  Henry.  The 
story  of  this  famous  debate  is  familiar  history. 
Patrick  Henry  rang  every  note  of  discord  as  only 
he  could  do.  "We  shall  have  a  king,"  he  cried; 
"the  army  will  salute  him  as  a  monarch."  He 
seized  upon  the  terrors  of  a  transient  thunder 
storm,  and  with  ready  dramatic  power  instanced 
the  flashing  of  lightning  and  the  crashing  of  the 
thunder  as  marks  of  the  displeasure  of  Heaven 
upon  the  proposed  Constitution.  But  the  admir- 
able temper  of  Marshall's  argument,  his  lucid 
analysis,  his  astonishing  familiarity  with  the  mis- 
chiefs the  Constitution  was  intended  to  remedy, 
and  the  irresistible  logic  with  which  he  enforced 
his  propositions  made  the  profoundest  impression 
upon  the  convention,  and  well-nigh  dominated  the 
elevated  conscience  of  Patrick  Henry  himself. 
Marshall  was  then  but  thirty-three  years  of  age, 
but  speaking  of  him,  Patrick  Henry  exclaimed, 
"I  have  the  highest  respect  and  veneration  for  the 
honorable  gentleman.  I  have  experienced  his  can- 
dor upon  all  occasions."  We  may  well  believe  that 
in  that  high  debate  there  came  before  the  imagina- 
tion of  Marshall  those  visions  of  the  victorious, 
powerful,  proud  and  united  nation  with  which  he 
and  Monroe,  Hamilton  and  Laurens,  and  many 
other  brilliant  young  patriots  had  beguiled  the 


198  JOHN    MARSHALL 

weary  hours  around  the  flickering  camp-fires  of 
Valley  Forge.  We  may  not  doubt  that  there  came 
to  his  memory  the  reiterated  declarations  of  Wash- 
ington, that  to  maintain  our  liberties  the  States 
must  surrender  something  of  the  fiction  of  sover- 
eignty, and  while  preserving  their  integrity,  must 
adjust  their  relations  to  a  central  and  supreme  au- 
thority. In  truth,  the  actual  constitutional  con- 
vention may  have  been  held  around  the  camp- 
fires  of  the  Continental  army.  There,  with  con- 
ceptions crystal-clear  of  our  country's  needs,  the 
officers  and  men  of  the  American  forces  had  in 
substance  formulated  the  noble  system  of  govern- 
ment under  which  we  live,  and  could  Washington 
in  1776  have  wielded  the  power  now  proper  to 
our  Commander-in-Chief,  the  manhood  of  the 
American  people  could  have  expelled  the  British 
from  our  shores  almost  as  swiftly  as  we  but  lately 
drove  the  Spaniard  from  the  island  of  Cuba. 
Finally,  the  resistless  appeal  to  reason  by  Mar- 
shall, the  lucid  and  temperate  persuasions  of  Madi- 
son, the  quiet  but  irresistible  power  of  Washing- 
ton prevailed  upon  the  noble  manhood  of  the  Old 
Dominion,  and  on  June  25th,  by  a  majority  of 
ten,  she  cast  her  lot  with  her  sister  States,  and 
voted  for  the  Constitution. 

And  now  the  Constitution  was  adopted.  And 
now  Washington,  the  first  President,  seeming 
more  the  venerated  sage  than  the  fearless  war- 
rior, again  traversed  the  northward  road  from 
Mt.  Vernon,  over  which  fifteen  years  before  he 
rode  to  take  command  of  the  patriot  forces.  Now, 
on  famous  fields,  he  was  hailed  with  the  acclama- 
tions of  his  countrymen,  and  by  "white-robed 
choirs"  of  his  lovely  countrywomen  singing  odes 


JOHN    MARSHALL  199 

of  welcome  as  they  strewed  flowers  before  him, 
with  stately  ceremonial  was  inaugurated;  and  the 
Government  like  some  mighty  machine  began  its 
rhythmical  movement,  and  the  Nation  was  made. 

Oh,  my  young  countrymen,  when  we  contem- 
plate our  increasing  millions,  when  we  perceive 
how  they  rejoice  in  the  blessings  of  liberty  and 
law,  when  we  view  our  goodly  heritage,  when  we 
know  that  with  all  our  past  glories  our  mission 
for  humanity  is  scarcely  begun,  with  what  grate- 
fulness and  love  should  we  dwell  upon  the  memory 
of  the  great  men  of  our  race,  who  made  this  pos- 
sible, who  made  this  sure. 

It  was  inevitable  that  John  Marshall,  who  took 
such  great  part  in  the  formation  of  our  Govern- 
ment, should  soon  be  called  to  assist  in  its  admin- 
istration. In  the  Virginia  Assembly,  as  Envoy  to 
France,  as  a  Member  of  Congress,  as  Secretary 
of  State,  he  now  successively  served  the  people 
of  his  State  and  of  the  Nation.  It  was  but  natural 
also  that  Marshall  should  have  cherished  the  high- 
est confidence  in  the  wisdom  and  patriotism  of  the 
President;  and  he  accorded  an  unwavering  support 
to  those  measures  of  internal  concern  and  foreign 
policy  advised  by  that  exalted  patriot,  and  about 
which  it  now  seems  impossible  that  there  could 
have  been  a  difference  of  opinion  among  enlight- 
ened men. 

The  services  rendered  by  Marshall  in  this  mis- 
sion to  France  were  inestimable.  With  the  scorn 
of  an  honest  man  he  confounded  the  corrupt 
schemes  of  the  brilliant  but  unscrupulous  Talley- 
rand, and  opened  the  eyes  of  the  quick-sighted 
French  statesmen  to  the  probity  and  force  of  the 
American  character.  Thus  the  foreigners  were 


200  JOHN    MARSHALL 

made  to  know  the  confidence  of  our  people  in  our 
vast  but  yet  untested  powers.  While  apparently 
displeasing  to  Jefferson,  the  action  of  the  envoys 
doubtless  contributed  to  the  success  of  that  meas- 
ure, which  adds  most  largely  to  his  fame,  for  a  few 
years  later,  when  he  was  President,  and  Napoleon 
was  dispatching  a  powerful  military  force  to  in- 
trench French  authority  in  the  Louisiana  territory, 
and  America  determined  to  resist,  the  First  Con- 
sul quickly  sold  to  our  country,  not  only  the  city 
of  New  Orleans,  but  the  mighty  Louisiana  Pur- 
chase west  of  the  Mississippi,  now  comprising 
many  imperial  States.  The  effects  of  this  mission 
upon  the  fortunes  of  Marshall  were  more  im- 
mediate. John  Adams  declared  of  him,  "He  has 
raised  the  American  people  in  their  own  esteem, 
and  if  the  influence  of  truth  and  just-reasoned  ar- 
gument is  not  lost  in  Europe,  he  has  raised  the 
consideration  of  the  United  States  in  that  quarter." 
He  was  tendered  the  position  of  Associate  Jus- 
tice of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
The  appointment  was  declined.  It  is  said  that  a 
controlling  reason  for  his  declination  was  the  ear- 
nest request  of  Washington  that  Marshall  should 
again  accept  a  candidacy  for  Congress.  His  re- 
election was  warmly  opposed  by  Mr.  Jefferson  and 
his  party.  The  contest  was  severe.  It  was  in- 
dustriously circulated  that  Patrick  Henry,  who  be- 
longed to  the  Jefferson  party,  was  antagonistic 
to  Marshall.  But  that  noble  Virginian  betrayed 
a  magnanimity  and  patriotism  which  the  politicians 
of  the  present  day  might  often  imitate  with  profit 
to  the  country.  Notwithstanding  their  past  differ- 
ences, he  at  once  declared:  "John  Marshall  and 
his  colleagues  exhibited  the  American  character 


JOHN    MARSHALL  201 

as  respectable.  France  in  the  period  of  her  most 
triumphant  fortune  beheld  them  as  unparalleled. 
Tell  Marshall  I  love  him  because  he  felt  and  acted 
as  an  American.  I  really  should  give  him  my  vote 
for  Congress  preferably  to  any  citizen  in  the  State 
at  this  juncture,  one  only  excepted,  and  that  one  is 
in  another  line."  That  one  was  Washington 
himself. 

Marshall  was  elected,  Congress  convened,  and, 
most  unhappily,  one  of  his  first  duties  was  to  an- 
nounce in  the  House  the  death  of  the  Father  of  his 
Country,  the  "hero,  the  patriot,  and  the  sage  of 
America."  On  the  I9th  of  December,  1789,  with 
deep  emotion,  Marshall  arose,  addressed  the 
chair,  and  informed  the  country  that  "Washing- 
ton lives  now  only  in  his  own  great  actions,  and 
in  the  hearts  of  an  affectionate  and  afflicted  peo- 
ple." He  proceeded  to  offer  the  resolutions,  pre- 
pared by  General  Henry  Lee,  the  famous  "Light 
Horse  Harry"  of  the  Revolution,  the  son  of 
Washington's  "Lowland  Beauty,"  Lucy  Grimes, 
and  the  father  of  our  own  immortal  Robert  Ed- 
ward Lee.  These  resolutions  contained  the  im- 
perishable tribute,  "First  in  War,  First  in  Peace, 
and  First  in  the  Hearts  of  his  Countrymen." 

On  the  reorganization  of  Mr.  Adams'  Cabinet, 
Marshall  was  nominated  as  Secretary  of  War. 
This  he  declined,  but  Mr.  Pickering  having  been 
removed  by  the  President  from  the  State  Depart- 
ment, Marshall  accepted  that  position,  and  while 
holding  this  office  on  the  3ist  of  January,  1801, 
a  little  more  than  one  month  before  the  expiration 
of  the  Adams  Presidential  term,  he  was  appointed 
Chief  Justice,  and  on  the  4th  of  February  of  that 
year  he  took  the  oath  of  office  and  his  seat  on  the 


202  JOHN    MARSHALL 

bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
It  was  as  Chief  Justice  that  John  Marshall  won 
his  great  fame,  and  made  an  impression  upon  the 
fortunes  of  the  nation  which  will  not  perish  from 
the  memory  of  men  as  long  as  the  sciences  of  gov- 
ernment and  jurisprudence  survive. 

"From  his  youth  upward,"  said  the  stately  and 
eloquent  Binney,  "he  had  been  engaged  in  various 
stations  and  offices  tending  successively  to  cor- 
roborate his  health,  to  expand  his  affections,  to 
develop  his  mind,  to  enrich  it  with  the  stores  of 
legal  science,  to  familiarize  it  with  public  affairs 
and  with  the  principles  of  the  Constitution,  and  be- 
fore little  more  than  half  his  life  had  run  out,  pro- 
ducing from  the  material  supplied  by  a  most  boun- 
tiful nature,  a  consummate  work  preeminently 
fitted  for  the  judicial  department  of  the  Federal 
Government."  From  the  admiring  pen  of  Justice 
Story  we  have  this  description  of  his  personal  ap- 
pearance at  this  time:  "Marshall  is  of  a  tall, 
slender  -figure,  not  graceful  or  imposing,  but  erect 
and  steady,  his  hair  is  black,  his  eyes  small  and 
twinkling,  his  forehead  rather  low,  but  his  features 
are  in  general  harmonious.  His  manner  is  plain, 
yet  dignified.  An  unaffected  modesty  diffuses  it- 
self through  all  his  actions."  The  bearing  of  the 
Chief  Justice  in  the  actual  discharge  of  his  judicial 
duties  was  as  perfect  as  their  result.  Said  a  con- 
temporary: "His  carriage  was  faultless.  Whether 
the  argument  was  animated  or  dull,  instructive  or 
superficial,  the  regard  of  his  expressive  eye  was 
an  assurance  that  nothing  that  ought  to  affect  the 
cause  was  lost  by  inattention  or  indifference,  and 
the  courtesy  of  his  general  manner  was  only  so  far 
restrained  on  the  bench  as  was  necessary  for  the 


JOHN    MARSHALL  203 

dignity  of  office  and  for  the  suppression  of  famil- 
iarity." Another  eulogist  has  declared,  "Of  the 
parties  he  knew  nothing,  of  the  case  everything." 
The  august  court  of  which  he  was  now  the  Chief 
Justice  is  purely  an  American  creation.  Early  in 
its  history  it  was  said  by  DeTocqueville :  "A  more 
imposing  judicial  power  was  never  constituted  by 
any  people.  The  Supreme  Court  is  placed  at  the 
head  of  all  known  tribunals,  both  by  the  nature  of 
its  rights  and  the  classes  of  justiciable  parties  which 
it  controls."  The  great  critic  of  our  institutions 
was  right.  Its  majestic  final  jurisdiction,  particu- 
larly to  annul  legislation  not  warranted  by  the  Con- 
stitution, has  been  in  truth  as  impressive  to  the 
political  philosopher,  as  beneficial  to  the  great 
Republic.  This  feature  of  our  judicial  system, 
exercised  not  only  by  the  Federal  but  by  the  State 
courts,  with  final  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States,  was  startling  to  the  absolutism 
of  the  world.  England's  highest  court  of  justice 
may  not  arrest  the  operation  of  an  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment even  though  it  be  in  violation  of  Magna 
Charta.  "It  was  reserved,"  said  Edward  J. 
Phelps,  "for  the  American  Constitution  to  extend 
the  judicial  protection  of  personal  rights,  not  only 
against  the  rulers  of  the  people,  but  against  the 
representatives  of  the  people."  Mr.  Jefferson  and 
his  followers  were  in  that  day  bitterly  jealous  of 
this  power,  and  the  feeling  has  perhaps  not  yet 
wholly  disappeared.  Indeed,  it  is  stated  by  the 
most  recent  biographer  of  Jefferson,  the  brilliant 
and  epigrammatic  Thomas  E.  Watson,  of  our  own 
State,  that  to  shake  the  authority  of  the  Federal 
courts  he  adopted  the  plan  of  impeaching  Associate 
Justice  Chase.  "The  prosecution,"  said  Mr.  Wat- 


204  JOHN    MARSHALL 

son,  "failed  miserably.  Chase  came  forth  in 
triumph.  Henceforth  John  Marshall  was  safe." 
Aye,  and  the  country  was  safe. 

No  thoughtful  patriot  can  longer  doubt  that  this 
great  judicial  power  more  than  all  other  causes 
has  contributed  to  establish  justice,  to  provide  for 
the  general  welfare  and  to  secure  the  blessings 
of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity.  It  has 
remained,  however,  for  our  own  times  to  witness 
that  great  tribunal,  with  unshrinking  courage  and 
immovable  firmness,  brand  the  condemnation  of 
the  Constitution,  upon  measure  after  measure,  in 
decisions  vital  to  the  peace  and  happiness  of  the 
homogeneous  Anglo-Saxon  population  of  the 
Southern  States,  decisions  which  have  enabled  us 
to  rebuild  our  homes,  to  reconsecrate  our  altars, 
to  re-kindle  the  torch  of  education,  to  add  the  su- 
perabounding  products  of  our  practically  un- 
touched resources  of  field,  forest,  and  mine  to  the 
aggregate  wealth  of  the  nation,  and  so  endear 
again  to  the  people,  our  common  country,  that  in 
its  recent  need  the  veterans  of  Lee  and  Johnston, 
and  the  sons  of  their  blood,  flocked  to  the  colors 
with  a  spontaneity  and  enthusiasm  unsurpassed  by 
the  veterans  of  the  Union,  or  by  the  gallant  youth 
of  the  North. 

We  are  not,  however,  to  conclude  that  the  mind 
of  the  great  Chief  Justice  was  absolutely  colorless. 
A  soldier  and  patriot,  and  distinguished  in  political 
life,  he  could  not  divest  his  mind  of  an  interest  in 
public  affairs,  nor  put  behind  him  the  opinions  he 
had  deliberately  formed  as  to  the  best  methods  of 
government.  He  believed  that  the  Constitution, 
while  preserving  all  the  essential  rights  of  the 
States  as  to  local  government,  had  been  intended 


JOHN    MARSHALL  205 

to  create  and  did  create  a  perpetual  National  Gov- 
ernment as  to  national  affairs;  and  so  believing, 
he  saw  a  meaning  in  the  instrument  which  made 
the  great  majority  of  his  decisions  accord  with 
national  principles  of  construction  and  policy. 

How  vastly  his  doctrines  of  constitutional  con- 
struction have  contributed  to  the  power  of  the 
nation,  and  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  the 
people,  is  beyond  the  descriptive  measure  of  hu- 
man speech.  The  supremacy  of  the  Government, 
its  power  to  establish  banks  for  the  commerce  of 
the  people ;  its  power  to  control  the  commerce  with 
foreign  nations,  and  between  the  States  upon  prin- 
ciples of  justice;  to  establish  uniform  rules  of 
naturalization,  and  uniform  laws  on  the  subject 
of  bankruptcy;  to  restrain  unconstitutional  powers 
attempted  by  the  States;  to  condemn  the  valueless 
State  currency  at  times  emitted;  to  uphold  the 
obligations  of  contracts;  to  promote  internal  im- 
provements; and  to  provide  for  the  common  de- 
fense— these  are  but  a  few  of  the  vital  questions 
which  are  imperishably  imbedded  in  our  system  by 
the  constructive  genius,  the  massive  minds,  the  im- 
movable firmness,  the  abounding  patriotism  of 
John  Marshall  and  the  great  judges  who  have 
thought  with  him. 

It  is  true  that  when  old  and  worn,  upon  his  aged 
eyes  fell  the  vision  of  that  portentous  cloud  look- 
ing above  the  horizon,  to  bring  in  its  wake  the 
cyclone  of  revolution,  to  sweep  away  millions  of 
property  and  thousands  of  priceless  lives,  but 
around  his  dying  couch  gleamed  the  halo  of  his 
judicial  achievements,  and  these  still  live  in  their 
pristine  power  to  save  the  nation  in  its  greatest 
need,  and  will  live  while  the  nation  lives. 


2o6  JOHN    MARSHALL 

It  fell  to  his  lot  to  outlive  well-nigh  all  of  those 
mighty  builders  who  had  laid,  and  cemented  with 
the  blood  of  many,  the  foundation  of  American 
liberty,  and  who  had  constructed  thereon  the 
shapeliest  and  strongest  scheme  for  the  govern- 
ment of  freemen  the  world  has  ever  known.  His 
beloved  Commander,  the  idol  of  his  heart,  for 
more  than  a  generation  had  been  sleeping  in  that 
spot  on  the  romantic  banks  of  the  Potomac,  then, 
now,  and  forever  to  remain  the  sacred  shrine  of 
a  nation's  love.  The  ashes  of  Alexander  Hamil- 
ton, his  best  beloved  young  comrade-in-arms,  for 
many  years  had  reposed  in  an  untimely  grave.  The 
mild  and  persuasive  Madison,  his  colleague  and  co- 
laborer  in  the  Virginia  Convention  to  adopt  the 
Constitution,  now  penning  with  tremulous  hand, 
to  the  people  whom  he  loved,  his  last  pathetic 
warnings  against  the  dangers  of  nullification  and 
disunion,  had  less  than  a  year  to  live.  John 
Adams,  the  fiery  and  incorruptible  patriot,  who 
had  been  rocked  in  every  storm  of  the  Revolution 
and  who  had  declared  in  his  old  age  that  his  gift 
of  John  Marshall  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States  was  the  proudest  act  of  his  life,  and  Thomas 
Jefferson,  the  author  of  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence, nine  years  gone,  were  both  dead,  on 
Independence  Day.  Marshall  was  now  nearly 
eighty  years  of  age.  The  sweet  Virginia 
maiden,  who  more  than  fifty  years  before  had  won 
the  love  of  the  affectionate,  strong  young  soldier, 
coming  from  the  war,  the  true  and  tender  helpmeet 
in  all  the  trials  and  anxieties  of  his  wondrous  ca- 
reer, she  too,  as  he  said,  "a  sainted  spirit,  had  fled 
from  the  sufferings  of  life." 

Afflicted  by  the  maladies  common  to  extreme 


JOHN    MARSHALL  207 

old  age,  the  great  Chief  Justice,  who  knew  his 
Bible  and  loved  his  God,  no  doubt  often  dwelt 
upon  the  mournful  majesty  of  the  Psalmist  when 
he  exclaims:  "The  days  of  our  years  are  three- 
score and  ten;  and  if  by  reason  of  strength  they 
be  fourscore  years,  yet  is  their  strength,  labor  and 
sorrow."  So  with  his  mighty  intellect  unclouded 
to  the  last,  on  the  6th  day  of  July,  1835,  about  6 
o'clock  in  the  evening,  the  greatest  judge  the  world 
has  ever  known  calmly  met  the  inevitable  hour, 
and  passed  away  in  peace. 

Though  dead,  enshrined  in  the  love  and  venera- 
tion of  his  country,  he  lives  and  shall  live  in  glor- 
ious memory  to  the  latest  times,  and  from  the  very 
flower  of  the  country's  purity  and  patriotism,  from 
famous  law  schools  and  universities,  from  the 
members  of  his  noble  profession,  from  courts  of 
loftiest  jurisdiction,  from  great  cities,  and  from 
hamlets,  from  the  grateful  hearts  of  eighty  mil- 
lions of  people,  and  from  millions  yet  unborn, 
come  and  will  continue  to  come  acclamations  to  the 
fame  of  this  mighty  American,  who  taught  to  the 
people  the  imperishable  truth,  indispensable  to  our 
happiness  and  strength  at  home,  and  our  strength 
and  honor  abroad — he  best  serves  and  loves  his 
State,  who  country  serves  and  loves  the  best. 


THOMAS  ERSKINE 


FACING  PACE    209 


ERSKINE.* 

Mr.    President,    Gentlemen    of   the   Law   Class, 
Ladies,  and  Gentlemen: 

With  long  opportunities  for  observation  I  am 
convinced  that  the  greatest  handicap  upon  the  edu- 
cated youth  of  our  country  to-day,  is  the  inability  to 
make  clear  and  attractive  public  discussion  com- 
mensurate with  their  intellectual  power,  of  those 
topics  which  daily  present  themselves  to  the  con- 
sideration of  a  self-governing  people. 

"He  who  would  teach  eloquence,"  said  Hume, 
"must  do  it  chiefly  by  examples."  He  who  would 
demonstrate  that  it  can  lose  none  of  its  influence, 
usefulness  and  power  must,  to  some  extent,  do  like- 
wise. The  brevity  essential  to  this  occasion  obliges 
me  to  restrict  your  attention  to  one  example,  to 
that  illustrious  member  of  the  English  Bar  who 
though  dead  for  nearly  a  century  yet  maintains 
unchallenged  leadership  in  the  noble  profession  of 
advocacy,  Thomas  Lord  Erskine,Lord  Chancellor 
of  England.  "As  an  advocate  in  the  forum,"  said 
Lord  Campbell,  "I  hold  him  to  be  without  an  equal 
in  ancient  or  modern  times."  He  had  no  less  power 
with  the  court  than  with  the  jury.  A  complete  life 
of  this  marvelous  man  has  not  yet  been  written. 
Like  Nottingham,  Somers,  and  Hardwick,  and 
like  many  an  illustrious  advocate  and  jurist  in  our 
own  land,  he  has  failed  to  obtain  an  enthusiastic  or 

""Baccalaureate  Address  as   Dean  of  Law   School,   Mercer 
University,  Commencement,  1908. 

209 


210  ERSKINE 

even  faithful  biographer.  In  his  "Lives  of  the 
Lord  Chancellors,"  Lord  Campbell  has  recorded 
many  incidents  of  Erskine's  life.  The  paper  from 
the  pen  of  the  titled  biographer  is,  however,  unhap- 
pily marked  by  some  of  those  characteristics  which 
prompted  Sir  Charles  Weatherell  to  refer  to  the 
author  as  "my  noble  and  biographical  friend  who 
has  added  a  new  terror  to  death." 

He  was  born  in  Edinburgh  in  January,  1750. 
His  father,  Henry  David  Erskine,  Earl  of  Bu- 
chan,  might  trace  his  earldom  to  the  times  of  Wil- 
liam the  Lion,  but  when  the  son,  whose  impression 
on  history  would  surpass  that  of  all  his  titled  an- 
cestors combined,  was  born,  the  eccentric  earl  pos- 
sessed an  income  not  greater  than  two  hundred 
pounds  a  year.  It  followed  that  the  future  leader 
of  the  English  bar  could  not  be  regularly  trained 
for  either  of  the  learned  professions.  He,  how- 
ever, mastered  the  rudiments  of  classical  culture 
at  the  High  School  of  Edinburgh,  and  the  Univer- 
sity of  St.  Andrew.  In  1764  he  went  to  sea  as  a 
midshipman,  in  a  ship  commanded  by  a  nephew  of 
Lord  Mansfield,  then  Chief  Justice  of  England. 
After  four  years  of  sea  service,  his  ship  having 
been  paid  off,  at  the  age  of  eighteen  Erskine  ob- 
tained a  commission  as  ensign  in  the  Royals  or 
First  Regiment  of  Foot.  Two  years  later  he  com- 
mitted what  some  have  termed  an  act  of  improvi- 
dence, but  which  the  better  informed  believe  to  be 
the  felicitous  consummation  essential  to  the  devel- 
opment of  genius.  He  married  a  young  woman  of 
good  family  but  of  no  fortune.  It  surely  seems 
essential  to  the  rapid  and  continuous  progress  to- 
ward eminence  at  the  bar  that  the  young  lawyer, 
like  the  otherwise  immovable  terrapin,  must  have  a 


ERSKINE  211 

coal  of  fire  on  his  back.  I  use  this  metaphor  to 
indicate  the  ardent  and  stimulating  effect  of  judi- 
cious matrimony,  and  hasten  to  protest  against  the 
incinerating  or  scarifying  idea  the  suspicious  or 
malevolent  might  suggest.  It  was  Lord  Kenyon,  I 
believe,  who  said  to  a  young  advocate  of  wealth 
whose  advancement  had  been  slow,  "Sir,  you  must 
spend  your  fortune,  take  you  a  wife,  then  spend 
her  fortune,  and  then  you  will  go  to  work." 
Erskine's  wife  having  died  just  before  he  obtained 
the  Lord  Chancellorship,  he  recorded  on  her  tomb- 
stone that  she  was  the  most  faithful  and  most  af- 
fectionate of  women.  Later  in  life  he  remarried, 
this  time  a  Miss  Sarah  Buck,  who,  as  her  maiden 
name  might  import,  was  not  altogether  so  amiable 
or  controllable.  To  this  infelicitous  alliance  Sheri- 
dan applied  the  lines  of  Dryden, 

"When  men  like  Erskine  go  astray, 
The  stars  are  more  at  fault  than  they." 

While  stationed  with  his  regiment  at  Minorca, 
Erskine  entered  upon  the  systematic  study  of  Eng- 
lish literature.  It  is  probably  true  that  no  two 
years  were  ever  better  spent  in  what  seems  an  un- 
conscious effort  to  enhance  his  native  gifts  of  elo- 
quence. He  read  largely  in  prose,  but  Lord 
Brougham  declares  that  "he  was  more  familiar 
with  Shakespeare  than  almost  any  man  of  his  age, 
and  Milton  he  had  nearly  by  heart."  "The  noble 
speeches  in  Paradise  Lost,"  exclaimed  this  great 
contemporary,  "might  be  deemed  as  good  a  sub- 
stitute as  could  be  discovered  by  the  future  orator 
for  the  immortal  originals  in  the  Greek  models." 
We  find  that  in  after  years  these  were  often  util- 
ized in  our  own  land  by  the  mighty  Webster  him- 


212  ERSKINE 

self.  The  works  of  Dryden  and  Pope  were  also 
read,  and  were  committed  to  memory  by  Erskine 
with  the  avidity  of  a  refined  and  well-formed  taste. 
While  with  his  military  command  he  not  only  read 
prayers  but  preached  sermons  to  the  regiment. 
The  felicitous  combination  of  lawyer,  preacher, 
and  politician  has  not  yet  entirely  passed  off  the 
stage.  Late  in  his  life  there  was  a  fictitious  publi- 
cation forecasted  by  his  waggish  friends,  entitled 
"Sermons  preached  on  ship  board  and  in  the  camp 
by  the  Right  Honorable  Thomas  Lord  Erskine, 
late  Lord  High  Chancellor." 

It  is  interesting  to  recall  that  my  honored  prede- 
cessor in  the  station  I  hold,  Judge  John  Erskine, 
was  of  the  same  family  as  the  great  advocate  of 
whom  I  speak.  In  early  manhood  he  too  had 
been  a  sailor  and  spent  several  years  before  the 
mast.  When  he  first  held  the  United  States  Dis- 
trict Court  at  Savannah,  where  certain  learned 
proctors  are  very  nautical  indeed,  the  trial  of  an 
admiralty  case  afforded  them  an  opportunity  to 
explain  to  the  new  judge  many  practical  questions 
relating  to  navigation,  and  particularly  the  rigging 
and  tackle  of  a  ship.  Judge  Erskine  listened  pa- 
tiently and  deferentially  while  with  much  detail 
they  explained  everything  from  the  main  truck  to 
the  keel.  Finally  a  brief  recess  was  proposed, 
when  the  old  sailor  quietly  remarked,  "Gentlemen, 
I  presume  that  you  retire  to  splice  the  main  brace, 
be  quite  sure  that  you  do  not  bowse  the  jib." 

It  is  said  by  some  that  only  accident  attracted 
Erskine's  attention  to  the  bar.  He  had  been  in  the 
army  about  six  years.  Stationed  in  the  country 
town  where  the  assizes  were  being  held,  he  strolled 
into  court  one  day,  and  Lord  Mansfield,  who  was 


ERSKINE  213 

presiding,  observing  his  uniform,  asked  his  name. 
The  Chief  Justice  finding  that  he  was  the  boy 
whom  he  had  ten  years  before  assisted  in  going  to 
sea,  the  young  officer  was  at  once  invited  to  a  seat 
on  the  bench.  His  Lordship  stated  the  principal 
points  of  the  case  on  trial.  Erskine  listened  to  the 
arguments  with  the  liveliest  interest.  The  counsel 
were  the  leaders  of  the  circuit,  but  it  occurred  to  the 
young  soldier,  who  ever  betrayed  the  self-confi- 
dence of  that  daring  profession,  how  much  more 
clearly  and  forcibly  he  could  have  presented  cer- 
tain points  and  urged  them  on  the  minds  of  the 
jury.  Lord  Mansfield  invited  him  to  dinner,  and 
was  delighted  with  his  charming  powers  of  conver- 
sation. It  is  indeed  characteristic  of  most  illus- 
trious judges  that  they  are  very  fond  of  young  men. 
Erskine,  at  the  close  of  the  evening,  propounded 
to  the  famous  jurist  the  question,  "Is  it  impossible 
for  me  to  become  a  lawyer?"  The  Chief  Justice 
did  not  wholly  discourage  him.  His  mother,  who 
was  a  woman  of  strong  character,  when  consulted, 
eagerly  supported  his  budding  ambition.  As  the 
son  of  a  nobleman  he  was  entitled  to  a  degree  at 
one  of  the  universities  if  he  merely  kept  his  regu- 
lar terms,  and  by  this  his  term  of  legal  study  at  the 
Inns  of  Court  might  be  abridged.  He  accordingly 
became  a  member  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge, 
early  in  1776,  and  managed  also  to  keep  his  terms 
in  Lincoln's  Inn.  He  retained  his  commission  in 
the  Army,  for  this  was  essential  to  his  support,  but 
secured  a  leave  of  absence  for  six  months.  He 
then  sold  his  commission  and  eked  out  the  profits 
with  the  most  painful  frugality.  He  dressed 
cheaply,  lived  on  cow  beef  because  he  could  buy 
nothing  better,  and  after  two  years  of  study,  in 


2i4  ERSKINE 

July,  1778,  when  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  was 
admitted  to  that  profession  of  which  almost  in- 
stantly he  was  to  become  the  most  distinguished 
ornament.  He  was  doubtless  excited  to  this 
course  by  the  success  of  another  brother,  Henry, 
or  "Harry"  Erskine,  as  he  was  called,  who  had  for 
some  years  been  the  brightest  and  wittiest  member 
of  the  Scottish  bar.  Of  the  latter  I  have  some- 
where read  this  anecdote:  A  maiden  lady  of  an 
uncertain  age,  of  the  name  of  Tickell,  appeared 
as  plaintiff  against  Donald  and  McLean.  Harry 
Erskine  appeared  for  the  autumnal  maiden.  "Who 
are  the  parties  in  this  case,  Mr.  Erskine?"  inquired 
the  crusty  old  judge.  Reversing  the  order  for  the 
sake  of  the  joke,  Erskine  brightly  replied,  "Don- 
ald and  McLean,  the  defendants,  Tickell,  the 
plaintiff,  my  Lord."  Roars  of  laughter  followed, 
when  the  judge  said,  "Tickle  her  yourself,  Harry, 
you  can  do  it  as  well  as  I."  This  ticklish  prece- 
dent, though  doubtless  sound  in  Scottish  jurispru- 
dence, is  not  to  be  recklessly  followed  by  the  Ameri- 
can practitioner. 

Thomas  Erskine  was  soon  to  be  at  the  end  of  his 
difficulties  and  privations.  Erskine  himself  re- 
counts his  early  professional  life  as  follows :  "I  had 
scarcely  a  shilling  in  my  pocket  when  I  got  my  first 
retainer.  It  was  sent  me  by  Captain  Bailey  of  the 
Navy,  who  held  an  office  at  the  Board  of  Green- 
wich Hospital,  and  I  was  to  make  answer  in  the 
Michaelmas  Term,  to  an  order  calling  on  him  to 
show  cause  why  a  criminal  information  for  a  libel, 
reflecting  on  Lord  Sandwick's  conduct  as  Gov- 
ernor in  that  charity,  should  not  be  filed  against 
him.  I  had  met  during  the  long  vacation  this 
Captain  Bailey  at  a  friend's  table,  and  after  dinner 


ERSKINE  215 

I  expressed  myself  with  some  warmth,  probably 
with  some  eloquence,  on  the  corruption  of  Lord 
Sandwick,  as  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  and 
then  adverted  to  the  scandalous  practices  imputed 
to  him  with  regard  to  Greenwich  Hospital.  Bailey 
nudged  the  person  who  sat  next  to  him,  and  asked 
who  I  was.  Being  told  that  I  had  just  been  called 
to  the  bar,  and  had  been  formerly  in  the  Navy,  he 
exclaimed  with  an  oath,  'Then  I'll  have  him  for 
my  counsel!'  I  trudged  down  to  Westminster 
Hall  when  I  got  the  brief,  and  being  the  junior  of 
five,  who  would  be  heard  before  me,  never  dreamt 
that  the  court  would  hear  me  at  all.  The  argu- 
ment came  on.  Hargrave,  who  led,  was  long- 
winded  and  tired  the  court.  It  was  a  bad  omen; 
but,  as  my  good  fortune  would  have  it,  he  was  un- 
well, and  was  obliged  to  retire  in  the  course  of  his 
argument.  This  protracted  the  cause  so  long  that, 
when  he  had  finished,  Lord  Mansfield  said  that 
the  remaining  counsel  should  be  heard  the  next 
morning.  *  *  *  I  had  the  whole  night  to  ar- 
range, in  my  chambers,  what  I  had  to  say  *  *  * 
and  I  took  the  court  with  their  faculties  awake  and 
freshened,  succeeded  quite  to  my  own  satisfaction 
(sometimes  the  surest  proof  that  you  have  satisfied 
others),  and,  as  I  marched  along  the  Hall  after 
the  rising  of  the  judges,  the  attorneys  flocked 
around  me  with  their  retainers.  I  have  since  flour- 
ished, but  I  have  always  blessed  God  for  the  provi- 
dential affliction  of  poor  Hargrave." 

Another  account  states  that  the  next  morning 
the  court  was  crowded,  and  the  Solicitor-General 
was  expected  to  speak  in  support  of  the  rule,  and 
just  as  Lord  Mansfield  was  about  to  call  upon 
him  to  proceed,  "Erskine  arose,  unknown  to  every 


216  ERSKINE 

individual  in  the  room,  except  his  Lordship,  and 
said  in  a  mild  but  firm  tone,  'My  Lord,  I  am  also 
of  counsel  for  the  author  of  this  supposed  libel 
*  *  *  and  when  a  British  subject  is  brought 
before  a  court  of  justice  only  for  having  ventured 
to  attack  abuses  which  owe  their  continuance  to  the 
danger  of  attacking  them,  *  *  *  I  cannot 
relinquish  the  privilege  of  doing  justice  to  such 
merit,  I  will  not  give  up  even  my  share  of  the  honor 
of  repelling  and  exposing  so  odious  a  prosecution.' 
The  whole  audience  was  hushed  into  a  pin-fall  si- 
lence. *  *  *"  He  concluded:  "If  he  keeps 
this  injured  man  suspended,  or  dares  to  turn  that 
suspension  into  a  removal,  I  shall  then  not  scruple 
to  declare  him  an  accomplice  in  their  guilt,  a 
shameless  oppressor,  a  disgrace  to  his  rank,  and 
a  traitor  to  his  trust.  *  *  *  Fine  and  impris- 
onment! The  man  deserves  a  palace  instead  of  a 
prison  who  prevents  the  palace,  built  by  the  public 
bounty  of  his  country,  from  being  converted  into  a 
dungeon,  and  who  sacrifices  his  own  security  to  the 
interests  of  humanity  and  virtue." 

It  is  not  surprising  that  Lord  Campbell  should 
have  pronounced  this  "the  most  wonderful  forensic 
effort  which  we  have  in  our  annals."  The  decision 
was  for  Erskine's  client;  the  rule  was  dismissed 
with  costs.  It  is  probably  true  that  never  did  a 
single  speech  so  completely  insure  professional  suc- 
cess. 

Some  one  asked  Erskine  later  in  life  how  he 
dared  to  face  Lord  Mansfield  when  he  was  clearly 
of  a  different  way.  He  replied,  with  emotion,  "I 
thought  of  my  children  as  plucking  me  by  the 
robe,  and  saying,  'Now,  father,  is  the  time  to  get 
us  bread.'  "  His  business  went  on  rapidly  increas- 


ERSKINE  217 

ing,  until  he  had  an  income  of  12,000  pounds 
($60,000)  a  year. 

In  his  second  year  at  the  bar,  with  most  unusual 
distinction,  he  was  called  upon  to  defend  Lord 
George  Gordon  for  high  treason,  the  charge  flow- 
ing out  of  the  No-Popery  Riots  of  1781,  painted 
in  such  lurid  colors  by  Charles  Dickens  in  "Barna- 
by  Rudge."  On  his  speech  in  this  case,  and  eight 
others,  whose  renown  will  be  perhaps  not  less  en- 
during than  that  of  Demosthenes  on  the  Crown, 
or  of  Cicero  against  Catiline,  his  title  as  the 
greatest  advocate  who  has  yet  arisen  among  the 
English-speaking  people  must  depend. 

I  may  add  that  to  the  young  lawyer,  to  the 
aspiring  statesman,  and  to  the  young  theologian 
as  well,  nothing  can  be  more  valuable,  no  matter 
whatever  labor  it  may  cost,  than  a  perfect  ac- 
quaintance with  those  specimens  of  his  forensic 
reasoning,  which  have  been  recorded,  and  which 
may  be  found  in  any  respectable  library.  Of  such 
productions,  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  exclaimed, 
"They  are  bark  and  steel  to  the  mind." 

In  maintaining  the  rights  of  juries  in  the  great 
case  of  the  Dean  of  St.  Asaph's,  Lord  Campbell  de- 
clares, "Erskine's  addresses  to  the  court,  in  mov- 
ing, and  afterward  in  supporting,  his  rule,  display 
beyond  all  comparison  the  most  perfect  union  of 
argument  and  eloquence  ever  exhibited  in  West- 
minster Hall." 

Of  his  speech  in  defense  of  Stockdale,  said  the 
Edinburgh  Review:  "Whether  we  regard  the  won- 
derful skill  with  which  the  argument  is  conducted — 
the  soundness  of  the  principles  laid  down,  and  their 
happy  application  to  the  case — the  exquisite  fancy 
with  which  they  are  embellished  and  illustrated — 


218  ERSKINE 

or  the  powerful  and  touching  language  in  which 
they  are  conveyed,  it  is  justly  regarded  by  all  Eng- 
lish lawyers  as  a  consummate  specimen  of  the  art 
of  addressing  a  jury."  "By  these  merits  it  is  recom- 
mended to  lovers  of  pure  diction — of  copious  and 
animated  description — of  lively,  picturesque,  and 
fanciful  illustration — of  all  that  constitutes,  if  we 
may  so  speak,  the  poetry  of  eloquence."  The  jury 
ignored  the  instructions  of  the  court,  and  acquitted 
the  prisoner. 

His  speeches  in  behalf  of  Frost,  in  behalf  of 
Bingham,  in  behalf  of  Marklam,  are  the  sure 
foundations  of  enduring  fame.  "Nor,"  said  Lord 
Brougham, — himself  a  great  judge  of  eloquence, — 
"nor  let  it  be  deemed  trivial,  or  beneath  the  his- 
torian's province,  to  mark  the  noble  figure,  every 
look  of  whose  countenance  is  expressive,  every 
motion  of  whose  form  graceful,  an  eye  that 
sparkles  and  pierces,  and  almost  assures  victory. 
Then  hear  his  voice  of  surpassing  sweetness,  clear, 
flexible,  strong,  exquisitely  fitted  to  strains  of  seri- 
ous earnestness,  *  *  *  but  wholly  free  from 
harshness  or  monotony.  *  *  *  His  argu- 
mentative powers  were  of  the  highest  order,  clear 
in  his  statements,  close  in  his  applications,  with  a 
quick  and  sure  perception  of  his  point,  and  undevi- 
ating  in  the  pursuit  of  whatever  established  it; 
endowed  with  a  nice  discernment  of  the  relative 
importance  and  weight  of  different  arguments,  and 
the  faculty  of  assigning  to  each  its  proper  place." 

Than  Erskine,  no  man  made  fewer  mistakes  in 
the  conduct  of  his  cause.  Never  would  he  have 
committed  the  blunder  of  Lord  Denman,  when 
after  his  magnificent  peroration  in  defense  of 
Queen  Caroline  against  the  cruel  persecution  of 


ERSKINE  219 

her  husband,  George  the  Fourth,  in  vindication  of 
her  womanly  honor,  in  anti-climax  he  finally  im- 
plored for  her  the  compassion  accorded  to  Mag- 
dalen. 

That  Erskine  had  his  detractors  is  true.  To  one 
of  these  critics,  who  was  recounting  to  Chief  Jus- 
tice Kenyon  some  of  the  envious  animadversions 
of  Westminster  Hall,  Lord  Kenyon  replied, 
"Young  man,  what  you  have  mentioned  is  most 
probably  unfounded,  but  these  things,  even  if  they 
were  true,  are  only  spots  in  the  sun  1  As  for  his 
egotism,  which  they  are  so  fond  of  laying  to  his 
charge,  they  would  talk  of  themselves  as  much  as 
Mr.  Erskine  does  of  himself,  if  they  had  the  same 
right  to  do  so.  His  nonsense  would  set  up  half  a 
dozen  of  such  men  as  run  him  down." 

In  his  idle  moments  he  was  one  of  the  most  play- 
ful of  men,  and,  like  most  great  orators,  a  great 
conversationalist.  He  was  often  dashing  off,  and 
handing  around  to  his  brother  lawyers  humorous 
couplets.  Mr.  Justice  Ashurst  had  a  long,  lanky 
visage,  probably  not  unlike  that  which  Cervantes 
has  ascribed  to  the  "Knight  of  the  Melancholy 
Countenance."  Of  him  Erskine  wrote : 

"Judge  Ashurst,  with  his  lantern  jaws, 
Throws  light  upon  the  English  laws." 

Observing  upon  how  much  confidence  in  speak- 
ing was  acquired  from  habit  and  frequent  employ- 
ment, a  barrister  named  Lamb  remarked,  "I  don't 
find  it  so,  for  though  I  have  a  good  share  of  busi- 
ness, I  don't  find  my  confidence  increased;  rather 
the  contrary."  "Why,"  replied  Erskine,  "it  is 
nothing  wonderful  that  a  Lamb  should  grow 
sheepish." 


220  ERSKINE 

In  that  class  of  cases — too  frequent  then  as  now 
— in  which  the  cruel  and  unprincipled,  often,  after 
many  years  of  unselfish  devotion  and  sacrificial 
service  by  the  hapless  victims,  rive  the  bond  of 
matrimony,  lay  waste  the  happiness  of  homes,  and 
drive  hope  from  faithful  hearts,  his  indignant  elo- 
quence wrung  from  the  jurors  of  England  damages 
in  the  most  astonishing  punitive  amounts.  Main- 
taining that  the  conjugal  rights  he  sought  to  vindi- 
cate, were  incalculably  more  valuable  than  all  prop- 
erty, and  that  no  adequate  return  in  money  could 
be  made,  he  was  constantly  awarded  verdicts  in 
pounds  sterling,  amounting  to  twenty-five  thousand, 
forty  thousand,  and  even  fifty  thousand  dollars. 

In  such  cases,  scenes  of  domestic  endearment 
and  felicity,  which  had  been  blotted  from  existence, 
were  described  with  the  utmost  delicacy  and  ten- 
derness, and  with  the  most  fiery  indignation  was  his 
invective  directed  at  those  who  had  ruthlessly  in- 
vaded and  destroyed  them.  In  the  case  of  Dun- 
ning versus  Sir  Thomas  Turton,  where  a  loving 
husband  was  the  victim,  Erskine  depicted  the  emo- 
tions of  the  agonized  soul  in  colors  which  will  en- 
dure forever.  He  pronounced  the  passage  from 
Othello  with  the  irresistible  effect  of  his  musical  ac- 
cents: "But  oh,  what  damned  minutes  tells  he 
o'er, — who  dotes  yet  doubts,  suspects,  yet  fondly 
loves."  And  continuing  he  exclaimed,  "When  sus- 
picion is  realized  into  certainty,  and  his  dishonor  is 
placed  beyond  the  reach  of  doubt,  despair  assumes 
her  dominion  over  the  afflicted  man,  and  well  might 
he  exclaim  from  the  same  page : 


ERSKINE  221 

"  'Had  it  pleased  Heaven 
To  try  me  with  affliction ;  had  He  rain'd 
All  kinds  of  sores  and  shames  on  my  bare  head ; 
Steep'd  me  in  poverty  to  the  very  lips; 
Given  to  captivity  me  and  my  utmost  hopes ; 
I  should  have  found  in  some  place  in  my  soul 
A  drop  of  patience.    But  alas  !'  " 

He  stopped,  and  the  effect  in  sympathetic  tears 
was  visible  in  every  eye  in  court. 

It  may  be  well  for  those  who  aspire  to  high  rank 
in  advocacy  to  reflect  that  Erskine,  who  ordinarily 
spoke  extemporaneously,  wrote  down  word  for 
word  those  famous  and  rhythmical  periods  in  his 
great  speeches,  since  regarded  as  the  rarest  jewels 
of  forensic  eloquence.  And  it  is  true,  ever  true, 
that  no  permanent  effect  is  made  upon  the  minds  of 
men  by  public  speech,  save  as  the  result  of  careful 
thinking  and  generally  much  careful  writing. 
Cicero  declared  that  he  who  undertakes  to  instruct 
an  audience  without  first  instructing  himself,  is 
guilty  of  impudence.  After  Sheridan's  death,  from 
his  commonplace  books  itwas  discovered  that  those 
marvelous  witticisms,  with  which  he  had  charmed 
his  contemporaries,  had  been  deliberately  consid- 
ered, written  out,  rewritten,  and  rearranged,  so  at 
the  proper  time  to  produce  the  most  captivating 
effect  of  original  and  spontaneous  humor.  Lord 
Bacon  declared  that  "Reading  maketh  a  full  man; 
conference  a  ready  man;  and  writing,  an  accurate 
man."  It  is  true  that  there  are  a  few  men,  with 
amazing  powers  of  self-concentration  who  can 
think  out  almost  verbatim  the  discourses  with 
which  they  will  charm,  persuade,  or  convince. 
Such  a  one  was  our  own  Ben  Hill  of  Georgia.  In 
my  college  days  I  have  seen  him  sit  for  hours  in 
rapt  self-absorption  wholly  oblivious  of  the  con- 
versation of  his  family  and  the  varied  sounds  of 


222  ERSKINE 

the  household.  In  a  few  days,  perhaps  the  next 
day,  the  result  of  this  intense  thought  would  ap- 
pear in  a  powerful  discourse  before  some  great 
popular  gathering,  in  lucid  but  unanswerable  argu- 
ment on  some  intricate  legal  topic,  in  an  irresistible 
appeal  to  a  jury,  in  which  he  was  scarcely  surpassed 
by  Erskine  himself,  or  in  those  "Notes  on  the  Situ- 
ation of  Reconstruction  Times,"  which  imperi- 
ously demanded  that  a  prostrate  and  despairing 
people  should  recall  their  ancient  thoughts  from 
banishment.  The  late  Justice  L.  Q.  C.  Lamar  once 
told  me  that  it  was  his  habit  to  think  out  with  pre- 
cise verbal  accuracy  the  speech  he  designed  to  make, 
and  then  to  write  it  out  literally  as  he  had  thought 
it  out.  The  task  would  seem  impossible,  but  no 
man  can  question  the  intellectual  honesty,  or  the 
accuracy  of  that  great  son  of  Georgia. 

The  variety  and  brilliancy  of  Erskine's  talents 
for  advocacy  are  demonstrable  by  his  conduct  of 
the  case  of  Hatfield.  Here  an  old  soldier  had  fired 
a  pistol  point-blank  at  the  King.  The  defense  was 
insanity.  He  began  in  a  subdued  and  solemn  tone, 
appropriate  to  the  iniquity  of  the  crime.  It  is  said 
that  his  address  on  this  occasion  reminds  a  classi- 
cal reader  of  the  mild  beauties  of  the  Odyssey 
contrasted  with  the  fire  of  the  Iliad.  The  power 
of  the  advocate  converted  in  a  few  hours  from 
despair  to  triumph,  a  case  that  seemed  utterly 
hopeless,  and  notwithstanding  the  zeal  and  preju- 
dice of  the  lawyers  for  the  Crown,  and  the  precon- 
ceived opinions  of  Lord  Kenyon,  the  rugged  hon- 
esty of  the  fearless  judge  stopped  the  case  and  di- 
rected an  acquittal. 

In  his  majestic  defense,  and  glorious  victory,  in 
behalf  of  the  liberty  of  the  press,  Erskine  reached 


ERSKINE  223 

the  highest  summit  of  his  fame.  With  but  two  ex- 
ceptions he  always  appeared  as  the  champion  of 
the  accused.  His  deep  religious  feeling  prompted 
him  to  accept  a  retainer  to  prosecute  Tom  Paine 
for  his  blasphemous  publication  of  the  second  part 
of  the  "Age  of  Reason."  He  had  previously,  and 
in  another  case,  defended  this  erratic  and  brilliant 
man  to  his  own  great  detriment,  but  he  now  dis- 
played a  strong  sense  of  religion,  without  which  the 
highest  achievements  in  eloquence  are  utterly  unat- 
tainable. "The  people  of  England,"  he  said  em- 
phatically (as,  thank  God!  we  may  say  of  the  peo- 
ple of  America),  "are  a  religious  people,  and  with 
the  blessing  of  God,  so  far  as  it  is  in  my  power,  I 
will  lend  my  aid  to  keep  them  so." 

But  I  may  not  detain  you.  I  have  said  enough — 
perhaps  more  than  enough — to  indicate  where  you 
may  find  the  deep  waters  of  this  well  of  English 
undefiled.  Well  may  we  paraphrase  the  rare  and 
ancient  verse : 

"Some  strains  of  eloquence,  which  hung 
In  ancient  times  on  Tully's  tongue ; 
But  which,  conceal'd  and  lost,  had  lain, 
Till  Erskine  found  them  out  again." 

Elevated  to  the  Lord  Chancellorship,  the 
majesty  of  the  station  was  dwarfed  by  the  renown 
of  the  advocate,  and  yet  of  all  of  his  decisions  but 
one  was  questioned,  and  that  was  on  appeal  con- 
firmed by  the  House  of  Lords.  Some  idler  having 
wagered  a  case  of  wine  that  his  decrees  had  been 
reversed,  had  the  impertinence  to  write  him  a  di- 
rect inquiry  on  the  subject.  The  reply  is  interest- 
ing: 

UPPER  BERKELEY  STREET,  Nov.  13,  1819. 

Sir: — You  have  certainly  lost  your  bet  on  the  subject  of  my 
decrees,  none  of  which,  but  one,  was  appealed  against,  upon  a 


224  ERSKINE 

branch  of  Mr.  Thelluson's  will,  but  it  was  affirmed  without  a 
dissentient  voice  on  the  motion  of  Lord  Eldon,  then  and  now 
Lord  Chancellor.  If  you  think  I  was  no  lawyer,  you  may  con- 
tinue to  think  so.  It  is  plain  you  are  no  lawyer  yourself;  but 
I  wish  every  man  to  retain  his  opinions,  though  at  the  cost  of 
three  dozen  of  port. 

P.  S. — To  save  you  from  spending  your  money  upon  bets  you 
are  sure  to  lose,  remember  that  no  man  can  be  a  great  advo- 
cate who  is  no  lawyer.  The  thing  is  impossible. 

In  view  of  this  noble  life,  now  so  imperfectly 
depicted,  will  you  not,  my  young  friends,  who  will 
soon  be  endowed  with  the  powers  and  privileges 
of  his  noble  profession,  seek  to  emulate  the  lofty 
accomplishments,  the  patriotic  labors,  the  unselfish 
and  fearless  sacrifices  of  its  accomplished  chief. 
Believe  not  the  self-satisfied  and  self-magnifying 
owls  of  our  profession  who,  content  to  hoot  undis- 
puted things  in  such  a  solemn  way,  are  prone  to 
declare,  that  the  day  of  the  forensic  orator  is  over. 
More  than  ever  before  in  the  annals  of  representa- 
tive government,  and  in  the  history  of  public  jus- 
tice, is  the  genuine  and  eloquent  advocate  vital  to 
liberty  and  social  order,  and  whenever  that  day 
shall  come  when  freemen  are  heedless  of  him  whose 
"weighty  sense  flows  in  fit  words  of  heavenly  elo- 
quence," worship  freedom  as  we  may,  even  among 
its  votaries,  free  government  will  perish. 

Far  from  the  scene  of  his  triumphs,  in  West- 
minster Hall,  the  sacred  ashes  of  our  illustrious 
and  incomparable  leader  repose  in  the  ancient 
family  vault,  "where  Scotia's  grandeur  springs." 
In  the  greatest  city  on  earth  a  statue  stands  to  his 
honor  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Hall.  In  historic  Holland 
House,  whose  high-born  inmates  through  succes- 
sive generations  have  consecrated  their  hereditary 
powers  to  the  maintenance  of  liberty  and  the  con- 


ERSKINE  225 

fusion  of  intolerance,  there  stands  a  bust  of  him, 
with  the  noble  inscription,  "Nostrae  eloquentiae 
facile  princeps."  Long  may  these  marble  memo- 
rials endure,  but  after  they  have  crumbled  to  dust, 
and  while  the  language  of  his  matchless  forensic 
orations  survive,  therein  gleaming  with  unfading 
lustre  will  remain  unimpaired  by  the  rolling  years, 
imperishable  monuments  of  his  eloquence  and 
power  in  defense  of  innocence  and  in  advocacy  of 
right. 

And  shall  his  mystic  wand  remain  forever 
broken,  shall  his  trophies  moulder  in  the  funereal 
silence  of  his  tomb  ?  May  we  not  lift  our  eyes  and 
behold  the  renaissance  of  that  "Power  above  power 
of  heavenly  eloquence,  that  with  the  strong  rain  of 
commanding  words,  doth  master,  sway  and  move 
the  eminence  of  men's  affections."  May  it  not 
be  said  of  you,  my  young  brethren,  or  to  some 
of  you,  members  of  his  own  profession,  in  this 
land  more  favored  than  his,  in  its  clime  more 
congenial  to  free  speech,  on  its  richer  soil,  doubly 
consecrated  to  the  genius  of  universal  freedom, 
those  shining  words,  which  were  said  of  him, 
and  said  of  yore  to  Philip  Sydney:  "We  listen,  it 
is  true,  to  others,  but  we  give  up  our  hearts  to 
thee." 


FACING   PAGE    22/ 


THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  JOSEPH 
EMERSON  BROWN,  WAR  GOV- 
ERNOR OF  GEORGIA.* 

INTRODUCTORY  REMARKS 

Of  Rev.  Dr.  W.  H.  Kilpatrick,  President,  upon 
the  occasion  of  its  delivery  at  Mercer  Univer- 
sity. 

"LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  The  pleasure 
which  I  have  in  naming  the  speaker  of  the  occa- 
sion is  an  unusual  one.  I  speak  advisedly  when  I 
use  the  word  'naming,'  instead  of  the  word  'intro- 
ducing' ;  for  he  whom  we  are  to  hear  to-day  needs 
no  introduction  to  this  audience.  The  subject 
chosen  is  a  most  happy  one.  We  have  to-day  the 
very  great  pleasure  of  hearing  an  address  upon 
one  of  the  South's  greatest  statesmen  of  the  past 
by  her  greatest  orator  of  the  present — a  discus- 
sion of  the  life  and  times  of  Joseph  E.  Brown,  by 
Judge  Emory  Speer." 

ADDRESS  OF  JUDGE  SPEER. 

MR.  PRESIDENT,  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  BOARD  OF 

TRUSTEES,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 
It  was  the  year  1840.    The  wooded  summits  of 
the  Blue  Ridge  had  put  on  their  autumnal  colors. 
These  romantic  mountains  coming  down  from  the 

*Annual  Oration,  Commencement  of  Mercer  University, 
Macon,  Georgia,  June  7,  1905;  and  one  of  the  Lectures  on  the 
Storrs  Foundation,  at  Yale  University,  New  Haven,  Con- 
necticut, May,  1906. 

227 


228       JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN 

lofty  altitudes  of  the  Appalachian  range,  and  pen- 
etrating the  northeastern  section  of  Georgia,  have 
an  occasional  depression.  These  a  poet  might 
term  the  mountain  passes,  but  the  mountaineers 
call  them  the  "gaps."  One,  threaded  by  a  rugged 
trail,  connecting  the  county  of  Union  on  the  north 
with  Lumpkin  on  the  south,  is  known  as  the  Woody 
Gap.  At  an  early  hour  of  the  day  of  which  I 
speak,  a  slender  and  sinewy  lad  came  steadily 
through  this  gap  and  down  the  Indian  trail.  He 
was  driving,  yoked  together,  a  pair  of  young 
steers.  Presently  there  followed  another  and  a 
younger  boy,  mounted  on  a  small  horse,  whose 
well-defined  muscles  and  obvious  ribs  did  not  sug- 
gest a  life  of  inglorious  ease.  In  mountain  soli- 
tudes there  is  little  change.  Now,  as  then,  look- 
ing southward  from  the  Woody  Gap,  the  traveler 
may  behold  successive  and  lower  ranges  of  billowy 
mountains,  which  together  approach  the  sublime, 
and  far  beyond  in  shimmering  loveliness  stretch- 
ing apparently  to  the  infinite,  the  "ocean  view"  as 
it  is  termed,  that  "Piedmont  country  of  Georgia," 
some  day  to  afford  sustenance  to  many  millions 
of  happy  freemen.  To  the  northward  a  more 
precipitous  slope  seems  to  terminate  in  a  lovely 
mountain  vale.  Glancing  through  its  luxuriant 
crops,  and  by  its  simple  homes,  the  silvery  waters 
of  the  Toccoa  make  their  way  towards  the  far 
distant  Mississippi.  The  valley,  like  the  mountain, 
is  also  little  changed.  Its  homes  have  the  same 
unpretentious  character,  its  people  the  primitive 
virtues  of  the  old  American  stock.  The  shriek 
of  the  locomotive,  and  the  roar  of  the  railway 
train,  to  this  day,  have  not  penetrated  the  sylvan 
settlement.  No  village  is  there.  The  valley,  like 


JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN       229 

many  another  locality  in  our  mountains,  after  the 
fashion  of  the  Cherokees,  is  called  a  "town." 
There  is  "Brasstown,"  and  "Fightingtown,"  and 
across  the  Tennessee  line,  "Ducktown."  This  is 
"Gaddistown,"  and  thence  from  a  rude  log  cabin 
that  day  had  departed  the  boy  who  was  driving  the 
steers,  to  become  the  only  man  who,  in  all  the  his- 
tory of  our  State,  was  for  four  successive  terms  its 
Governor,  a  State  senator,  a  Judge  of  its  Superior 
Court,  a  Chief  Justice  of  its  Supreme  Court,  and 
twice  its  representative  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States.  That  boy  was  Joseph  Emerson  Brown. 

The  lad  was  of  Revolutionary  stock.  Another 
Joseph  Brown,  his  grandfather,  at  Camden, 
King's  Mountain,  and  other  fierce  combats,  had 
made  proof  of  his  devotion  to  liberty.  The  father 
of  the  lad  was  Mackay  Brown.  Shouldering  his 
rifle  in  the  War  of  '12,  he  had  followed  "Old 
Hickory"  to  New  Orleans,  and  joined  the  intrepid 
backwoodsmen  of  his  type,  whose  deadly  aim  had 
mown  down  the  veterans  of  Packenham  in  one  of 
the  bloodiest  defeats  ever  sustained  by  a  British 
army.  None  but  the  brave  deserve  the  fair,  and 
returning  from  the  wars,  Mackay  Brown  was  soon 
happily  married  to  Sally  Rice.  From  this  union 
of  youthful  valor,  strength,  and  virtue  eleven 
children  were  born.  The  eldest  of  these  was 
Joseph  E.  Brown.  It  is  charming  to  reflect  that 
his  parents  survived  to  witness  the  civic  triumphs 
of  their  illustrious  son,  and  after  the  great  war 
to  receive  from  his  filial  love  in  their  old  age  a 
comfortable  and  indeed  abundant  provision  for 
their  every  want. 

His  boyhood  was  not  wholly  uneventful.  Said 
General  Ira  Foster,  who  was  his  lifelong  friend 


230      JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN 

and  who  lived  in  famous  Dahlonega,  his  market 
town:  "Joe  cultivated  a  little  scrap  of  hillside 
land  with  a  pair  of  bull  calves,  and  every  Satur- 
day hauled  to  town  some  potatoes,  cabbages,  light- 
wood,  or  other  truck,  and  took  back  something 
for  the  family."  Ever  full  armed  was  the  Ameri- 
can backwoodsman,  who  was  proficient  with  the 
rifle  and  the  ax.  The  slender  boy  at  an  early  age 
was  master  of  both.  More  than  once,  when  quite 
an  old  man,  he  spoke  to  me  with  obvious  pride  of 
his  success  at  the  shooting-matches  for  "beef," 
which  even  now  are  not  unknown  in  the  Georgia 
mountains.  The  contesting  riflemen  fire  at  a  mark. 
The  beef  has  been  butchered,  and  it  may  surprise 
the  uninitiated  to  know  that  it  has  been  divided 
into  five  quarters.  The  fifth  quarter  is  first  prize. 
The  old  statesman  in  reminiscent  vein  would  say: 
"Usually  when  my  rifle  cracked  some  bystander 
would  exclaim,  'There  goes  the  hide  and  tallow.'  ' 
It  is  no  exaggeration  to  add  that  in  later  years 
many  of  his  political  opponents,  after  their  matches 
with  him,  discovered  that  they  had  also  been  de- 
prived these  important  integuments.  While  excell- 
ing beyond  his  strength  in  the  manly  exercises  of 
youth,  the  boy  did  not  deem  it  beneath  his  dignity 
to  lighten  the  labors  of  his  mother.  Many  a  day, 
when  it  rained,  he  stood  at  the  spinning-wheel  and 
skilfully  spun  the  thread  from  which  the  clothing 
of  the  family  was  woven.  When  Senator  from 
Georgia,  he  was  conducting  a  number  of  Northern 
manufacturers  through  the  halls  of  the  Cotton 
States  Exposition.  An  exhibit  was  reached  where 
the  primitive  spinning-wheel  was  contrasted  with 
the  latest  mechanism  for  the  manufacture  of 
thread.  In  reply  to  some  disparaging  remark 


JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN       231 

about  the  rude  contrivance,  the  Senator  said, 
"Very  good  thread  can  be  made  on  the  old  spin- 
ning-wheel," and  taking  the  place  of  the  girl  who 
was  engaged  in  its  operation,  to  the  delight  of  the 
bystanders  he  demonstrated  that  his  industrious 
hand  had  not  forgotten  the  cunning  which  in  days 
long  gone  had  lessened  the  burdens  of  his  mother. 
For  education  his  early  opportunities  were  very 
limited.  I  once  met  his  first  teacher,  then  a  very 
aged  man.  He  was  a  witness  in  a  case  of  illicit 
distillation.  To  my  surprise  he  informed  me  that 
Joe  Brown,  and  Mackay,  his  father,  went  to  school 
to  him  at  the  same  time.  He  said,  "Joe  was  the 
peartest  boy  I  ever  saw,  and  could  work  a  sum 
accordin'  to  the  rule  quicker'n  lightning  could  trim 
a  hemlock."  His  estimate  of  Mackay's  mathe- 
matical powers  was  not  so  encomiastic.  To  solve 
every  problem,  Mackay  Brown  had  a  rule  of  his 
own,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  venerable  in- 
structor yet  cherished  a  vivid  resentment  at  the 
bewildering  results.  Such  were  the  environments 
of  the  childhood  of  Joseph  E.  Brown.  Save  for 
the  pure  blood  and  strong  brain  of  the  unpreten- 
tious but  historic  stock  from  which  he  came,  there 
was  not  in  his  day,  in  the  remotest  cove  of  the 
mountains,  or  in  the  humblest  cabin  of  the  wire- 
grass,  a  boy  whose  chances  for  distinction  in  life 
were  less  auspicious. 

"Joe  Brown,"  as  the  people  ever  loved  to  call 
him,  was  now  nineteen  years  of  age.  He  deter- 
mined by  education  to  unlock  the  strong  native 
powers  of  the  mind,  of  which  he  must  have  been 
conscious.  There  was  little  money  in  the  humble 
cabin,  but  the  untiring  hands  of  his  gentle  mother 
fashioned  him  a  homespun  suit.  The  calves  he 


232 

had  reared  and  trained,  his  father  gave  him.  The 
boy  bade  farewell  to  his  loved  ones,  put  a  yoke  on 
his  patrimony  that  it  might  not  take  to  the  woods, 
and  drove  it  up  the  familiar  trail,  and  over  many 
a  rugged  mile  beyond,  theretofore  unknown  to  the 
footsore  beasts,  and  their  weary  but  resolute  mas- 
ter. The  destination  of  the  young  mountaineer 
was  Calhoun  Academy,  in  Anderson  District, 
South  Carolina.  His  journey  over,  the  boy  bar- 
tered his  little  steers  to  Maj.  Aaron  Broyles  for 
five  months'  board.  His  first  teacher  was  Pleas- 
ant Jordan,  afterwards  a  distinguished  lawyer  of 
Little  Rock,  Arkansas.  For  his  tuition  he  obtained 
credit.  But  soon  his  capital  was  exhausted,  and  in 
the  fall  of  1841  he  returned  to  Gaddistown  and 
taught  school  for  three  months.  Thus  he  ob- 
tained money  to  pay  his  tuition  debt  and  to  con- 
tinue his  studies.  His  teacher  now  was  the  skilful 
and  widely-known  Wesley  Leverett.  His  prog- 
ress was  all  that  the  most  exacting  instructor  could 
require.  His  strong  thirst  for  knowledge  and  his 
native  powers  of  application  and  mental  labor 
astonished  his  experienced  preceptor.  Again  his 
money  gave  out,  but  there  was  now  no  lack  of 
friends  to  trust  and  encourage  a  lad  with  habits 
so  admirable,  and  with  such  irresistible  determina- 
tion to  excel.  Beginning  with  his  Gaddistown 
training,  in  two  years  this  astonishing  youth  fitted 
himself  to  enter  an  advanced  class  in  college,  but 
for  this  he  had  not  the  means. 

In  January,  1844,  now  twenty-two  years  of  age, 
he  returned  to  Georgia  and  opened  what  was 
termed  an  "academy"  in  Canton,  Cherokee 
County.  As  a  teacher  he  was  eminently  success- 
ful. He  opened  his  academy  with  six  scholars,  and 


JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN       233 

soon  had  sixty.  By  the  end  of  the  year  he  had 
made  and  saved  enough  money  to  return  to  South 
Carolina  and  repay  every  dollar  he  had  borrowed. 
Ever  believing  with  the  Greek  proverb  that  "toil 
is  the  sire  of  fame,"  in  his  academy  days  at  Can- 
ton he  had  devoted  his  evenings  and  Saturdays  to 
the  study  of  law.  This  he  continued  during  the 
year  1845.  In  consideration  of  his  board,  at  the 
same  time  he  acted  as  tutor  for  the  children  of  his 
friend,  Dr.  John  W.  Lewis.  In  August,  1845, 
after  an  exhaustive  examination  he  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  of  the  Superior  Court.  It  is  said  that 
he  answered  but  one  question  incorrectly.  Even 
now  he  was  perhaps  better  prepared  for  success 
in  his  profession  than  many  who  seek  its  opportu- 
nities, but  the  awakened  soul  of  the  youth  was  im- 
bued with  the  loftiest  ambition.  He  meant  to  be 
a  great  lawyer.  He  knew  that  to  be  a  great  law- 
yer he  must  possess  and  utilize  that  broad  and  lib- 
eral knowledge  of  jurisprudence  which  can  best  be 
acquired  in  a  great  school  of  law.  Borrowing  the 
necessary  means  from  his  devoted  friend,  Dr. 
Lewis,  in  October,  1845,  he  matriculated  in  the 
Law  School  of  Yale  College.  Gratitude  and  fidel- 
ity to  friends  was  a  passion  with  Joseph  E.  Brown. 
The  kindly  patron  of  these  struggling  days  lived 
to  receive  from  the  hands  of  his  grateful  protege 
the  positions  of  Superintendent  of  the  State  Road, 
and  Senator  of  the  Confederate  States. 

The  renown  of  the  great  school  in  which  he  was 
now  a  student  has  ever  been  co-extensive  with  the 
limits  of  our  country.  Then  as  now,  probably  a 
majority  of  its  students  were  the  sons  of  wealthy 
parentage.  Then  as  now,  its  curriculum  embraced 
two  years  of  legal  study.  Then  as  now,  a  course 


234      JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN 

so  extended  and  expensive  was  utterly  impossible 
to  men  like  young  Brown,  who,  without  means, 
were  desperately  struggling  to  secure  the  oppor- 
tunities and  privileges  of  the  legal  profession. 
There  are  indeed  in  our  State  to-day  hundreds  of 
young  men  qualified  by  nature  to  excel  in  the  noble 
profession  of  the  law,  the  talented  sons  of  families 
whose  all  was  swept  away  by  the  fiery  tide  of  revo- 
lution, to  whom  a  two  years'  course  in  a  law  school 
is  not  more  possible  than  it  was  to  the  son  of 
Mackay  Brown.  It  was  found,  however,  that  the 
requirements  of  Yale  could  bend  to  the  necessities 
of  Gaddistown.  More  than  once  I  had  it  from  his 
own  lips  that  in  one  year  he  mastered  the  studies 
and  stood  the  examinations  for  the  entire  two 
years'  course.  He  received  his  degree  at  Yale  in 
1846.  He  returned  to  Georgia,  "hung  out  his 
shingle"  at  Canton,  and  began  the  practice  of  his 
chosen  profession.  So  swiftly  did  he  win  the  con- 
fidence of  the  people  that  in  the  first  year,  in  that 
country  of  small  fees,  he  made  twelve  hundred 
dollars.  Nulla  'vestigia  retrorsum.  His  income 
steadily  increased.  He  not  only  made  money,  but 
he  saved  it. 

His  next  step  was  not  less  interesting.  Familiar 
with  his  Bible,  he  had  doubtless  read  the  conserva- 
tive language  of  the  experienced  Solomon,  "Whoso 
findeth  a  wife  findeth  a  good  thing."  The  year 
after  his  admission  to  the  bar  he  was  married  in 
1847  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Gresham,  a  daughter  of 
the  Rev.  Joseph  Gresham,  a  Baptist  minister  of 
Pickens  District,  South  Carolina.  To  the  day  of 
his  death  she  was  a  noble  helpmeet.  Surely  there 
is  something  mysterious,  if  not  celestial  in  the  in- 
fection or  contagion  which  men  term  love.  The 


JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN       235 

germs  are  everywhere,  or  anywhere — in  the  beauty 
of  a  flower  whose  loveliness  is  paled  by  the  snowy 
breast  it  would  adorn,  the  fragrance  of  a  dainty 
note,  the  flutter  of  a  ribbon,  the  frou-frou  of  a 
silken  skirt.  This  mysterious  influence,  whatever 
it  is,  attended  the  meeting  of  Joe  Brown  and  his 
future  wife.  When  a  happy  old  lady,  and  mem- 
ory brought  back  the  features  that  love  used  to 
wear,  she  told  me  that  her  father  lived  in  the  coun- 
try and  that  the  young  lawyer  came  to  his  house. 
He  was  riding  a  gray  horse,  she  said,  and  asked 
lodging  for  the  night.  She  saw  him  as  he  entered, 
and  we  may  presume,  with  maidenly  modesty, 
withdrew  to  the  kitchen.  There  some  member  of 
the  family  asked  her  who  he  was.  She  said  that 
she  at  once  replied,  "I  never  saw  him  before  and 
don't  know  his  name,  but  he  is  the  man  I  am  going 
to  marry."  The  union  was  indeed  felicitous.  Un- 
surpassed in  the  duties  and  devotions  of  the  wife, 
and  of  mother  to  her  many  children,  her  gentle 
nature  tempered  the  stern  combativeness  of  the 
man  and  contributed  to  train  him  in  the  placid 
courtesy  which  in  later  life  often  disarmed  his 
enemies,  often  won  them  as  recruits  to  the  army 
of  his  friends.  For  many  years  she  was  his 
amanuensis.  His  writing,  like  that  of  many  great 
men  was  laborious  and  at  times  well-nigh  illegible. 
Hers  was  clear,  fluent,  and  graceful.  For  centuries 
it  is  possible  that  in  the  archives  of  Georgia  will 
be  found  State  papers  written  by  the  husband  in 
the  crisis  of  our  history,  and  recorded  for  posterity 
by  the  hand  of  the  wife.  When  Chief  Justice,  it 
was  his  custom  to  write  in  an  upper  room  of  his 
dwelling  his  great  opinions,  and  as  the  successive 
pages  were  completed,  from  the  head  of  the  stairs 


236      JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN 

he  would  drop  them  to  the  floor  below,  and  in  in- 
tervals stolen  from  household  or  social  demands, 
these  she  would  swiftly  and  accurately  copy.  Well 
did  the  life  of  this  unpretentious  and  lovely  woman 
confirm  the  philosophy  of  Euripides,  "Man's 
greatest  possession  is  a  sympathetic  wife." 

The  young  lawyer  was  astonishingly  successful. 
To  the  oratory  of  the  schools  he  made  little  pre- 
tention.  There  is,  however,  an  oratory,  or  more 
correctly  an  eloquence,  which  is  often  quite  as 
effective.  It  is  found  in  conciseness,  simplicity, 
clearness  of  language,  mastery  of  facts,  and  in  the 
skill  and  ingenuity  with  which  these  are  presented 
in  order  to  persuade  or  to  convince.  This  elo- 
quence he  had  in  rare  excellence.  Imperturbable, 
dead  game,  and  relentless,  he  was  a  terror  to  his 
adversaries  and  as  successful  with  the  juries  as 
with  the  courts.  The  same  faculties  were  utilized 
in  the  broader  arena  of  debate  to  which  he  came 
in  his  later  successes.  One  such  instance  I  heard 
in  a  contest  he  had  with  Senator  Mahone.  It 
seemed  that  the  Virginian  had  impugned  his  dis- 
interestedness because  he  was  president  of  a  rail- 
road company.  The  reply  of  the  Georgian  was  as 
crushing  as  characteristic.  "The  Senator  from 
Virginia,"  he  said,  "tells  this  body  that  I  am  presi- 
dent of  a  railroad  company.  The  charge  is  true. 
That  company,  let  me  say,  is  in  a  high  state  of 
prosperity.  So  good  are  its  securities  that  none 
of  them  are  on  the  market.  It  pays  handsome 
dividends,  and  is  rapidly  increasing  in  value.  The 
Senator  from  Virginia,  I  am  told,  is  also  president 
of  a  railroad  company,  and  that  company  is  in  the 
hands  of  a  receiver." 

Admitted  to  the  bar  as  we  have  seen  in  1846, 


JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN       237 

in  1 849  his  serious  political  career  began.  Having 
received  the  Democratic  nomination,  he  was 
elected  to  the  State  Senate  in  a  district  composed 
of  the  counties  of  Cherokee  and  Cobb.  But  this 
was  not  the  first  evidence  of  his  strength  with  the 
people.  While  yet  a  boy  he  strolled  over  to  what 
is  called  the  "law  ground"  in  Gaddistown.  An 
election  for  bailiff  of  the  militia  district  was  in 
progress.  The  opposing  candidates  were  not  sat- 
isfactory. The  electors  discovered  the  lad  as  he 
approached.  "Let's  elect  Joe,"  some  one  said, 
and  by  a  large  majority  it  was  promptly  done.  The 
legislature  of  i849-'5O  contained  many  distin- 
guished men.  Despite  his  youth,  Senator  Brown 
was  now  practically  the  leader  of  the  Democrats. 
The  courtly  and  scholarly  Andrew  J.  Miller  of 
Richmond  County  was  undoubtedly  the  leader  of 
the  Whigs,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he  de- 
clared, "Joe  Brown  will  yet  stamp  the  impress  of 
his  greatness  on  the  future  history  of  the  State." 
The  entry  of  Joseph  E.  Brown  into  the  politics 
of  Georgia  was  the  beginning  of  a  new  regime. 
Theretofore,  with  rare  exception,  men  of  wealthy 
families  and  ancient  social  prestige,  of  polished 
manners,  with  all  the  advantages  of  collegiate  and 
general  culture,  had  dominated  the  State  politics 
and  borne  off  the  honors  within  the  gift  of  the  peo- 
ple. It  may  be  easily  conceived  that  at  this  period 
of  his  life  Senator  Brown  had  little  encourage- 
ment from  men  of  this  exclusive  and  somewhat 
inperious  class.  Many  were  the  witticisms  leveled 
at  his  agricolous  appearance,  and  at  the  rustic 
vocabulary  of  his  constituents,  which  even  to  this 
day  betray  much  of  the  language  of  Shakespeare, 
and  much  of  the  language  of  Chaucer.  Years 


238       JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN 

afterwards,  in  a  great  speech  before  the  General 
Assembly  of  Georgia,  he  gave  his  own  conception 
of  the  attitude  of  this  once  dominant  class  toward 
him.  "There  is  a  class  of  people  in  this  State," 
he  said,  "whose  fathers  a  generation  or  two  back 
possessed  either  wealth  or  distinction.  They  or 
their  descendants  were  large  slaveholders  and  they 
were  usually  classed  as  the  aristocracy  of  the 
South.  They  are  sometimes  termed  by  the  com- 
mon people,  the  'kid-glove  aristocracy.'  Either 
fortunately  or  unfortunately  for  me,  I  never  be- 
longed to  that  class.  I  had  to  work  my  own  way 
in  the  world.  I  was  brought  up  among  the  work- 
ing-class, rose  from  the  mass  of  the  people.  They 
took  me  by  the  hand  and  sustained  me  because 
they  believed  I  was  true  to  them,  I  was  one  of 
them,  and  they  have  never  forsaken  me  in  any  in- 
stance where  the  popular  vote  could  be  heard." 

Returning  from  the  Senate,  the  Honorable 
Joseph  E.  Brown  entered  upon  the  active  practice 
of  the  law,  but  in  the  fall  of  1855  he  was  nomi- 
nated and  elected  by  the  people  as  Judge  of  the 
Superior  Court  of  his  circuit.  In  this  station  his 
career  was  most  remarkable.  Indeed,  no  other 
under  government  is  so  vital  to  the  public  welfare. 
The  judge  of  that  great  court,  having  general 
jurisdiction,  can  become  the  most  sovereign  agent 
of  reform,  or  the  most  insidious  and  baleful  pro- 
tector of  immorality,  of  vice,  and  of  dangerous 
crime.  Judge  Brown  measured  fully  up  to  the  ob- 
ligations of  this  lofty  station.  He  commanded 
order  in  the  court-room.  He  quietly  enforced 
the  most  rigid  discipline.  He  dispatched  business 
rapidly.  He  held  discursive  counsel  to  the  point 
and  stopped  them  when  he  had  heard  enough.  His 


JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN       239 

judgments  were  promptly  and  decisively  made.  To 
this  day  in  the  Blue  Ridge  Circuit  very  old  men 
declare  that  Joe  Brown  made  the  very  best  judge 
they  ever  had.  At  times,  it  is  true,  he  had  to  re- 
press the  familiarity  of  his  political  supporters. 
His  valuable  friend  on  election  day  was  Bob  Ral- 
ston, a  famous  character  of  Gilmer  County.  Pre- 
suming upon  his  services,  Bob  bet  a  friend  a  pint 
of  apple  brandy  that  he  (Bob)  could  with  impu- 
nity go  into  court  and  give  "Joe  Brown"  the  Ma- 
sonic sign.  While  not  a  Mason,  Bob  conceived 
that  he  had  detected  and  acquired  one  of  the  most 
important  signals  of  that  ancient  order.  This  was 
a  snap  of  the  finger  and  at  the  same  time  a  wink 
of  the  eye.  Bob  repaired  to  court,  leaned  against 
the  bar,  caught  the  attention  of  his  honor,  snapped 
his  finger,  and  winked  his  eye.  "Take  that  gentle- 
man to  jail  until  he  cools  off,"  was  the  unapprecia- 
tive  response  from  the  bench.  The  next  morning 
the  resentful  Bob  made  the  streets  of  Ellijay  vocal 
with  denunciations  of  the  ingratitude  of  men  in 
high  places,  but  his  knowledge  of  the  secrets  of 
Masonry  thenceforth  was  coram  non  judice.  Our 
judges  in  those  early  days  did  not  always  have  the 
conventional  instrumentalities  for  the  enforcement 
of  law.  On  one  occasion  Judge  Brown  convened 
court  in  one  of  the  new  mountain  counties.  There 
had  been  no  time  to  build  a  court-house,  but  a  rude 
log  structure  had  been  hastily  erected.  The  court 
was  convened  with  the  accustomed  solemnities,  and 
pretty  soon  discovered  that  the  county  bully  was 
drunk.  His  screams  and  curses  quickly  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  Judge,  who  quietly  said:  "Mr. 
Sheriff,  arrest  that  man  who  is  creating  a  disturb- 
ance and  bring  him  before  the  court."  The  sheriff 


24o      JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN 

with  several  stalwart  deputies  dragged  in  the 
offender.  The  Judge  ordered  the  prisoner  to  jail. 
uWhy,  your  honor,"  said  the  sheriff,  "we  have  got 
no  jail."  "That's  a  fact,"  said  the  Judge,  "but 
have  you  no  house  where  you  can  secure  him?" 
"There  is  not  a  house  in  the  town,"  was  the  reply, 
"that  he  won't  kick  out  of  in  five  minutes."  At 
this  moment  a  little  man  in  a  drab  suit,  which  be- 
trayed the  Quaker,  arose  among  the  audience  and 
with  deferential  manner  addressed  the  court.  He 
said,  "May  it  please  your  honor,  I  am  a  miner.  I 
have  been  prospecting  for  copper  near  the  village 
and  I  have  run  a  tunnel  some  three  feet  in  diam- 
eter and  thirty  feet  deep  into  the  bank  on  the  side 
of  the  road,  down  near  the  creek.  The  tunnel  is 
dry,  and  I  think  that  your  honor  might  direct  the 
sheriff  to  put  the  gentleman  in  there."  "Why, 
that's  a  good  idea,"  said  Judge  Brown.  "Mr. 
Sheriff,  put  some  straw  in  the  tunnel  so  that  the 
prisoner  can  sleep  off  his  drunk  without  taking 
cold;  haul  a  load  of  rails  there  and  stop  him  up 
safely  until  to-morrow  morning."  It  was  accord- 
ingly done. 

Judge  Brown  was  now  thirty-six  years  of  age. 
The  time  had  come  for  the  lad  from  Gaddistown 
to  step  forth  into  the  limelight  of  lofty  civic  sta- 
tion. Ever  cherishing  and  loving  the  people 
among  whom  he  was  reared,  and  who  supported 
him  in  his  early  struggles,  he  was  now  to  leave 
them  to  return  no  more.  On  the  iQth  of  June, 
1857,  while  binding  wheat  on  his  farm  in  Chero- 
kee County,  he  received  the  Democratic  nomina- 
tion for  Governor  of  Georgia. 

The  opponents  of  the  Democrats  in  that  day 
called  themselves  the  American  party.  By  the 


241 

Democrats  they  were  called  "Know  Nothings." 
They  had  a  secret  organization,  of  which  they 
would  not  speak,  and  when  asked  about  its  ritual, 
a  member  would  say,  "I  know  nothing."  This 
party  nominated  as  its  candidate  for  Governor 
that  illustrious  Georgian,  Benjamin  H.  Hill.  As  a 
popular  orator,  there  are  many  who  doubt  whether 
America  has  ever  produced  the  superior  of  that 
great  man.  It  has  been  the  privilege  of  the 
speaker  to  hear  many  of  his  famous  contempora- 
ries, but  not  one  with  such  irresistible  power  of 
persuasive  and  compelling  speech.  No  man  can  be 
a  great  orator  who  is  not  a  good  man,  and  Mr. 
Hill  was  as  good  as  great.  With  such  an  oppo- 
nent the  Democrats  were  much  perturbed.  Their 
apprehensions  were  soon  discovered  to  be  ground- 
less. The  joint  discussion  between  the  candidates 
began  at  Newnan.  In  the  first  speeches  it  is  re- 
lated that  Mr.  Hill  had  much  the  advantage,  but 
Brown  rapidly  found  himself.  He  talked  in  sim- 
ple style,  but  his  words  went  home.  No  matter 
how  cruelly  he  was  wounded  by  Mr.  Hill's  cutting 
invective,  he  never  winced.  The  plain  people 
would  carry  home  with  them  the  shrewd  and 
homely  philosophy  of  the  mountain  candidate. 
This  was  often  expressed,  no  doubt  with  purpose, 
in  their  vernacular  and  dialect.  A  famous  expres- 
sion of  Brown  which  doubtless  changed  many 
votes  is  still  recalled.  "I  confess,"  said  he,  "that 
Mr.  Hill  is  a  great  orator,  but  he  lacks  'judgment." 
The  opponents  of  Brown  made  fun  because  in 
honor  of  his  nomination  his  lady  friends  in  Chero- 
kee County  had  made  him  a  calico  bed  quilt.  This 
was  bad  politics,  for  most  of  the  voters  reposed 
under  quilts  of  that  material. 


242       JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN 

Seventeen  years  after  the  day  when  we  found 
the  Gaddistown  boy  driving  his  little  steers 
through  the  Woody  Gap,  by  a  majority  of  more 
than  10,000  over  his  renowned  opponent,  he  was 
elected  Governor  of  Georgia.  A  new  era  now 
began  in  the  State.  Coming  directly  from  the 
plain  people,  it  was  soon  perceived  that  the  young 
Governor  meant  to  protect  his  constituency  against 
many  dominant  and  damaging  influences.  He  had 
no  particular  reverence  for  great  families,  or  great 
names.  The  frowns  of  the  mighty  affected  him 
not  at  all.  His  inauguration  in  1857  is  perhaps 
remembered  by  some  who  hear  me.  His  inaugural 
address  was  brief,  but  with  a  few  quiet  words  he 
gave  to  lawless  financiers  a  shock  which  made 
them  quiver.  "In  the  midst  of  prosperity,"  he 
said,  "our  banks  have  generally  suspended  specie 
payment,  resulting  in  panic,  broken  confidence,  and 
general  stagnation  in  commerce."  He  then  grimly 
observed  that  in  his  judgment  the  suspension  was 
unnecessary,  and  that  he  should  at  once  begin  pro- 
ceedings under  the  law  to  forfeit  bank  charters. 
Neither  threats  nor  prayers  moved  him.  It  is  true 
that  by  a  two-thirds  majority  a  bill  was  passed  by 
the  Legislature  suspending  forfeiture  proceedings 
against  the  banks  for  one  year.  The  Governor 
wrote  a  veto  message  which  was  a  brave  appeal  to 
the  people.  The  substance  was  that  private  citi- 
zens had  to  meet  their  obligations;  banks  should 
do  so.  To  the  amazement  of  the  bank  advocates, 
the  people  of  the  State  almost  to  a  man  came 
swiftly  to  the  side  of  their  Chief  Executive.  In 
other  matters  of  utmost  importance,  his  adminis- 
tration was  accorded  by  the  people  equivalent  ap- 
probation. In  the  next  convention  of  his  party, 


JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN       243 

after  a  whirlwind  of  that  laudatory  eloquence  with 
which  Georgians  have  ever  been  gifted,  he  was 
unanimously  nominated  to  succeed  himself,  and  at 
the  polls  over  Warren  Akin,  nominee  of  the  Amer- 
ican party,  he  obtained  more  than  double  the  ma- 
jority of  his  first  election.  In  religious  faith  the 
Governor  ever  adhered  to  the  church  of  John  Bun- 
yan  and  Roger  Williams.  Among  the  many 
statements  published  by  his  opponents  with  a  view 
to  his  injury,  one  was  that  he  had  packed  the  offices 
of  the  State  Road  with  his  Baptist  friends.  A  sta- 
tistical Baptist  rushed  to  his  defense.  It  appeared 
that  among  the  employes  there  were  seven  Luther- 
ans, eight  Episcopalians,  fifteen  Catholics,  thirty- 
one  Presbyterians,  fifty-seven  Methodists  and  only 
seventy-seven  Baptists.  Well  might  the  Governor 
have  said  with  Warren  Hastings,  "When  I  reflect 
upon  my  opportunities,  I  am  astonished  at  my 
moderation." 

It  is  well  known  that  with  the  War  between  the 
States  Governor  Brown's  second  administration 
will  be  forever  identified.  That  there  were  strong 
divisions  among  the  people  of  the  State  is  well 
known.  That  he  favored  secession  is  also  well 
known.  While  supporting  Breckinridge,  absorbed 
with  gubernatorial  duties,  he  had  taken  little  part 
in  those  furious  debates  which  resulted  in  the  Iliad 
of  our  woes.  At  the  time  he  seems  to  have  been 
much  more  busily  engaged  with  caring  for  the  ma- 
terial and  moral  interests  of  the  State,  and  with  his 
efforts  to  compel  the  banks  to  resume  specie  pay- 
ment. But  while  the  mountain  Governor  had  done 
little  in  the  throes  of  the  revolution  born  in  the 
secession  of  Georgia  on  the  1 9th  of  January,  1861, 
from  that  time  on,  in  his  mobilization  of  Georgia's 


244      JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN 

military  forces  he  rivalled  Carnot,  whom  Napo- 
leon termed  the  "organizer  of  victory."  He  had 
previously  taken  Fort  Pulaski,  commanding  the 
mouth  of  the  Savannah  River.  He  now  seized  the 
United  States  arsenal  at  Augusta.  The  latter  sta- 
tion was  under  the  command  of  a  Captain  Elzey. 
The  Governor  himself  was  present  at  the  sur- 
render. It  is  related  when  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
were  hauled  down  that  refreshments  were  ordered. 
It  is  probable  that  these  preceded  the  following 
memorable  and  feeling,  but  under  the  circum- 
stances somewhat  ambiguous,  sentiment  proposed 
by  the  gallant  Colonel  Henry  R.  Jackson:  "The 
flag  of  stars  and  stripes,  may  it  never  be  disgraced 
while  it  floats  over  a  true  Southern  patriot."  Gov- 
ernor Brown,  while  not  drinking  wine,  with  his  ac- 
customed suavity  proposed  a  toast  to  Captain 
Elzey,  in  which  he  paid  that  officer  a  merited  and 
generous  compliment.  It  is  probable  that  the 
Governor  was  in  a  complimentary  vein,  for  the 
Federal  officer  had  just  surrendered  a  large  quan- 
tity of  fine  ordnance — two  batteries  of  twelve- 
pound  howitzers,  two  other  cannon,  twenty-two 
thousand  muskets  and  rifles,  most  of  them  of  su- 
perior make,  and  heavy  stores  of  powder,  grape 
and  other  ammunition.  But  if  the  Governor  was 
decisive  in  his  bearing  toward  the  United  States, 
his  conduct  toward  Union  men  in  the  section  of 
Georgia  from  which  he  came  was  marked  by  a 
gentle  diplomacy  which  a  Talleyrand  could  not 
have  surpassed.  The  spirit  of  devotion  to  the 
Union  was  ardent  in  the  county  of  Pickens.  There 
a  United  States  flag  was  raised  and  kept  floating 
even  after  secession.  This  was  in  bold  defiance  of 
the  Confederate  authorities.  Many  appeals  were 


JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN       245 

made  to  the  Governor  to  send  troops  to  cut  it 
down.  "By  no  means,"  said  he,  "let  it  float.  It 
floated  over  our  fathers  and  we  all  love  the  flag 
now.  We  have  only  been  compelled  to  lay  it  aside 
by  the  injustice  that  has  been  practiced  under  its 
folds.  If  the  people  of  Pickens  desire  to  hang  it 
out,  and  keep  it  there,  let  them  do  so.  I  will  send 
no  troops  to  interfere  with  it." 

Indeed,  to  his  untiring  energy,  his  foresight,  and 
sagacity  may  justly  be  ascribed  the  fact  that  Geor- 
gia sent  out  30,000  troops  armed  by  the  State. 
No  other  State  in  the  South  sent  so  many  armed 
troops  to  the  Confederate  Army. 

Responding  to  a  strong  demand  from  the  peo- 
ple, Governor  Brown  now  became  a  candidate  for 
a  third  term.  He  was  not  to  be  without  opposi- 
tion. A  convention  was  at  once  demanded,  but 
many  counties  called  meetings  and  by  resolutions 
refused  to  send  delegates.  However,  the  conven- 
tion met.  It  had  delegates  from  only  fifty-eight 
out  of  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-two  counties. 
Judge  Eugenius  A.  Nisbet  received  its  nomination. 
Here  was  a  foeman  worthy  of  the  Governor's 
steel.  Indeed,  Governor  Brown  had  the  good  for- 
tune never  to  run  against  an  unworthy  man.  Not- 
withstanding his  vast  public  services,  the  effort  to 
defeat  him  was  tremendous.  The  State  press,  al- 
most solid  against  him,  was  unsparing  in  its  as- 
saults. He  refused  to  make  any  canvass.  One 
short  and  moderate  paper  he  issued.  "It  is  in- 
sisted," said  he,  "that  it  has  not  been  the  usage  for 
the  same  person  to  hold  the  office  of  Governor  for 
three  terms.  This  is  certainly  true.  And  it  is 
equally  true  that  it  has  not  been  the  usage  for 
Georgia  to  have  in  the  field  30,000  troops  called 


246      JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN 

out  by  the  Executive,  whose  duty  it  is  to  know 
when,  and  with  what  preparation,  each  company 
went  to  the  field,  what  had  been  supplied  to  them, 
and  what  they  lack.  Whether  the  public  good  re- 
quires that  he  who  conducted  these  affairs  from  the 
beginning,  should  retire  in  the  midst  of  them  and 
give  place  to  a  new  man,  who  has  yet  to  learn  the 
condition  of  the  financial  affairs  of  the  State,  and 
the  location  and  necessities  of  our  troops,  is  a  ques- 
tion which  the  farmers,  merchants,  and  mechanics 
of  our  State  are,  I  think,  as  competent  to  decide  at 
the  ballot-box  as  a  few  politicians  and  political  as- 
pirants are  to  decide  in  caucus  at  Milledgeville." 
The  precedent  of  a  century  was  overruled.  His 
majority  over  Nisbet  was  13,691. 

At  this  time  the  influence  of  Georgia  with  the 
Confederate  Government  was  not  commensurate 
with  the  great  power  of  the  State,  nor  with  the 
enormous  exertions  it  had  made  for  the  Confed- 
erate cause.  Mr.  Stephens,  Vice-President,  had 
early  and  decided  differences  with  Mr.  Davis. 
Since  neither  would  yield,  the  Vice-President  was 
practically  eliminated.  Many  of  our  most  famous 
leaders,  such  men  as  A.  R.  Lawton,  Howell  Cobb, 
T.  R.  R.  Cobb,  A.  R.  Wright,  Henry  L.  Benning, 
Alfred  H.  Colquitt,  and  Robert  Toombs  had  en- 
tered the  army  and  were  generals  on  the  firing-line. 
It  followed  that  to  Governor  Brown  was  relegated 
the  duty  of  protecting  the  rights  of  the  State  from 
what  he  and  thousands  of  the  people  deemed  the 
unconstitutional  legislation  of  Congress. 

The  Conscription  Act  of  the  Confederate  Gov- 
ernment was  passed  in  April,  1862.  Most  un- 
wisely it  exempted  from  its  operation  men  who 
owned  or  worked  twenty  negroes.  Then  for  the 


JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN       247 

first  time  poor  men  who  did  not  wish  to  enter  the 
service  were  compelled  to  do  so.  Then  for  the 
first  time  was  heard  the  cry,  a  "rich  man's  war, 
and  a  poor  man's  fight."  Certainly  in  Georgia 
there  was  no  occasion  for  a  conscript  law.  The 
vast  majority  of  our  volunteers  were  not  slave- 
holders. Said  "Bill  Arp"  in  an  article  published 
not  long  before  his  death:  "Out  of  every  hundred 
soldiers  who  volunteered  to  defend  the  Southern 
cause,  eighty-five  of  them  had  no  interest  in  the 
negro.  The  proportion  of  non-slaveholding  pri- 
vates was  indeed  much  greater,  for  few  of  them 
were  made  officers."  The  same  famous  writer 
states,  "I  know  of  one  company  of  eight-five  good 
men  from  Murray  County  without  a  slaveholder 
among  the  privates."  The  last  call  made  on  the 
Governor  before  the  conscript  law  itself  was  en- 
acted was  for  twelve  regiments.  He  promptly 
furnished  eighteen,  and  he  stated  that  he  could 
have  raised  fifty  if  Mr.  Davis  had  called  for  so 
many.  Now  all  was  changed.  Not  only  were 
Georgians  to  be  conscripted,  taken  from  their 
homes  and  organized  into  companies,  regiments, 
and  brigades,  but  the  men  who  were  to  command 
them,  who  were  to  look  after  their  sustenance 
when  they  were  well,  who  were  to  look  to  their 
nursing  when  they  were  ill,  and  on  whose  judgment 
and  discreet  military  conduct  they  were  to  rely  in 
the  deadly  press  of  battle,  might  be  wholly  un- 
known to  them.  The  native  American  is  a  fighting 
man  of  no  mean  effectiveness,  but  the  very  nature 
of  his  institutions  has  trained  him  to  demand  that 
he  shall,  whenever  possible,  be  permitted  to  know 
the  men  on  whose  judgment  and  courage,  whose 
kindliness  and  sympathy  he  is  driven  to  rely  in  the 


awful  fortunes  of  war.  While  the  Governor 
obeyed  the  various  conscript  laws,  it  was  not  with- 
out sternest  protest  against  their  impolicy,  and 
their  unconstitutionally.  Nor  was  he  less  deter- 
mined in  his  insistence  on  the  right  of  Georgia  to 
name  the  officers  who  were  to  command  Geor- 
gians. In  all  of  these  contentions  he  had  the  un- 
swerving support  of  such  great  lawyers  and  states- 
men as  Alexander  and  Linton  Stephens,  William 
Dougherty,  and  Robert  Toombs. 

When  on  November  6,  1862,  the  legislature 
met,  it  might  have  ascertained  that  Georgia,  in- 
spired by  the  gigantic  energy  of  her  Executive,  had 
exhibited  the  most  astonishing  military  potency. 
To  the  field  she  had  sent  75,000  men.  In  the 
mean  time,  the  Confederate  Congress  had  passed 
an  additional  act  extending  the  conscription  so  as 
to  embrace  all  men  between  thirty-five  and  forty- 
five  years  of  age.  Governor  Brown  immediately 
wrote  Mr.  Davis  that  since  this  would  disband  the 
militia  of  Georgia,  he  would  not  permit  enrolment 
under  it  until  the  legislature  met  and  acted  on  the 
subject.  The  legislature  was  now  in  session  and 
did  nothing  but  debate.  However,  for  the  courts 
two  cases  were  made.  The  Supreme  Court  sus- 
tained the  constitutionality  of  the  law,  but  it  also 
held  that  the  officers  of  the  State  were  not  subject 
to  conscription.  It  followed  that  from  Chief  Jus- 
tice to  constable  there  was  an  instant  increase  in 
the  desirability  and  dignity  of  State  offices. 

On  the  1 8th  of  November  the  election  for  Con- 
federate States  Senator  came  on.  Herschel  V. 
Johnson,  one  of  the  most  ardent  opponents  of  the 
conscription  law,  was  a  candidate.  Mr.  Whittle, 
of  Bibb  County,  raised  the  question  of  his  attitude 


JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN      249 

relative  to  conscription.  But  on  the  second  ballot, 
having  received  one  hundred  and  eleven  votes,  this 
great  Georgian  was  elected.  At  that  time  General 
Toombs,  who  had  resigned  from  the  Confederate 
service,  and  now  commanded  a  mounted  regiment 
of  State  troops,  was  also  a  candidate.  One  of  his 
military  family,  Mr.  John  White,  of  Athens,  once 
gave  me  rather  an  amusing  account  of  the  Gen- 
eral's conduct  on  this  occasion.  He  left  camp  in 
the  full  uniform  of  his  rank,  and  went  up  to  Mil- 
ledgeville,  where  the  legislature  was  to  vote.  A 
day  or  two  later  he  came  back  clad  in  the  full 
senatorial  costume  of  the  ante-bellum  days,  com- 
prising in  part  a  broad-brim  stove-pipe  hat,  a 
broadcloth  shad-belly  coat,  a  gold-headed  cane, 
and  an  enormous  watch  fob.  Besides  his  attire  he 
was  additionally  a  little  disguised.  When  asked 
the  result  of  the  election,  he  hotly  replied:  "John- 
son was  elected.  The  fools  thought  they 

were  voting  for  Andy  Johnson." 

The  war  had  now  been  in  progress  less  than  two 
years,  and  appalling  indeed  was  the  mass  of  suf- 
fering among  the  people.  To  relieve  this,  Gov- 
ernor Brown  devoted  his  utmost  energy.  Two 
and  a  half  millions  of  dollars  had  been  distributed 
between  the  two  sessions  of  the  General  Assembly. 
There  were  84,1 19  beneficiaries  of  this  fund.  Of 
these,  45,718  were  children  who  had  been  de- 
prived of  their  protectors  and  support;  22,637 
kinswomen  of  poor  men  who  were  at  the  front; 
8492  were  the  orphans;  and  4003  the  widows  of 
deceased  or  killed  soldiers.  Besides,  550  were 
helpless  soldiers  disabled  in  service.  Nothing 
could  be  more  eloquent  of  the  awful  magnitude 
and  fearful  destructiveness  of  that  terrible  revolu- 


250        JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN 

tion.  Indeed,  no  man  did  so  much  as  our  War 
Governor  to  furnish  not  only  the  people  at  home, 
but  the  troops  at  the  front,  with  clothing  and 
shoes,  with  provisions  and  with  salt.  This  was 
not  only  from  the  public  appropriations,  but  from 
his  private  means.  It  is  related  that  in  March, 
1863,  a  gentleman  followed  him  to  his  farm  in 
Cherokee  County.  As  he  neared  the  farm  he 
overtook  a  caravan  of  wagons,  and  crowds  of  peo- 
ple walking,  going  in  the  same  direction.  When 
he  arrived,  he  found  a  multitude  of  others,  and 
the  Governor  in  person  engaged  at  his  corn  crib  in 
giving  away  $4000  worth  of  corn  and  shucks  from 
his  own  supplies,  in  proportion  to  their  necessities 
and  the  size  of  their  families,  to  the  poor  people 
of  the  county. 

By  this  time  the  biennial  election  of  1863  was 
approaching.  The  long  strain  upon  Governor 
Brown  had  been  tremendous.  More  than  once 
during  his  term  he  had  been  very  ill.  It  was  his 
wish  to  retire  from  the  gubernatorial  chair,  but 
the  people  would  not  permit  it.  Distinguished 
officers  at  the  front  wrote  to  him  that  his  continu- 
ance in  office  was  indispensable.  In  response  to 
the  popular  demand,  from  a  stern  sense  of  duty, 
and  again  without  a  nomination,  he  again  became 
a  candidate.  The  Atlanta  Gazette  nominated 
ex-Senator  Joshua  Hill,  and  the  Milledgeville  Re- 
corder put  up  Honorable  T.  M.  Furlow.  Gov- 
ernor Brown  day  and  night  toiled  in  the  executive 
office  in  Milledgeville,  and  left  his  canvass  to  take 
care  of  itself.  In  bitterness  the  campaign  equalled 
any  of  the  others.  But  such  a  renowned  paper  as 
the  Mobile  Register,  edited  by  the  famous  John 
Forsyth,  declared:  "We  look  upon  Mr.  Brown  as 


JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN      251 

a  model  War  Governor,  a  veritable  Stonewall 
Jackson  among  the  State  executives."  What 
Georgia  thought  of  him  was  in  evidence  when  the 
polls  were  closed.  He  received  36,558  votes, 
more  than  doubling  the  vote  of  Joshua  Hill,  and 
more  than  trebling  the  vote  of  Furlow.  He  had  a 
majority  over  both  of  8312.  There  was  an  army 
vote  in  seventy-three  Georgia  regiments  at  the 
front.  It  aggregated  15,223.  Of  these  Brown 
received  10,012. 

Would  that  I  knew,  and  yet  I  scarcely  dare  pic- 
ture, how  and  where  that  soldier  vote  was  cast. 
On  what  ensanguined  field,  by  what  historic 
streams?  Were  the  polls  opened  on  the  rushing 
Rapidan  or  by  the  sullen  Chickamauga?  Oh, 
where  did  the  gaunt  and  ragged  Georgians  vote? 
Was  election  music  or  election  banners  lacking? 
No.  The  one  was  the  hiss  of  the  Minies  and  the 
thudding  of  the  guns;  the  other,  the  shell-riven 
fragments  of  that  banner  whose  story  "sung  by 
poets  and  by  sages  shall  go  sounding  down  through 
ages."  Campaign  documents,  were  they  lacking? 
No,  by  the  thousands  they  were  there,  carefully 
cherished  in  jackets  of  gray.  Letters  from  home 
they  were.  They  told  the  story  of  suffering  wives, 
and  starving  children,  but  also  they  told  how  the 
messenger  from  the  Governor  had  brought  bread 
and  clothing  to  aged  parents,  to  wives  and  little 
ones.  And  that  Governor,  the  soldiers  shrewdly 
knew,  had  also  furnished  the  threadbare  clothes 
they  wore,  the  thin  blankets  looped  across  their 
broad  shoulders,  the  best  he  could  get;  aye  the 
very  arms  they  bore,  and  thickly  fell  the  votes  of 
Georgia  boys  for  the  boy  from  Gaddistown. 
Piteous  is  the  story  told  by  that  soldier  vote — in 


all  only  fifteen  thousand.  One  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  of  her  youth  and  manhood  had  Georgia 
given  to  the  red-cross  flag.  Where  were  they 
now?  Pallid  and  suffering  prisoners  of  war. 
Agonized  with  wounds  and  with  disease  in  the 
crowded  wards  of  dreary  hospitals.  How  many 
are  sleeping  in  the  gloomy  shades  of  the  Wilder- 
ness; how  many  under  the  crumbling  ramparts  of 
Vicksburg;  what  multitudes  on  the  fateful  slopes 
and  amid  the  battle-riven  rocks  of  those  heights  of 
Gettysburg,  from  whose  gory  summits,  the  high- 
water  mark  of  the  Confederacy,  had  recoiled  the 
wave  red  with  the  blood  of  heroes?  Where'er 
thou  sleepest — 

"Rest  on,  embalmed  and  sainted  dead ! 

Dear  as  the  blood  ye  gave ; 
No  impious  footsteps  there  shall  tread 
The  herbage  of  your  grave. 

Nor  shall  your  glory  be  forgot 

While  Fame  her  record  keeps, 
Or  Honor  points  the  hallowed  spot 

Where  valor  proudly  sleeps." 

Since  first  the  morning  stars  sang  together,  no 
greater  tribute  of  fidelity  to  duty,  of  humanity  to 
suffering,  of  faithfulness  in  all  things,  has  come 
to  mortal  man  than  the  confidence  and  love  re- 
corded by  that  immortal  remnant,  Georgia's  sol- 
dier vote. 

Despite  his  absorbing  executive  duties  in  those 
famous  days,  Governor  Brown  was  not  indifferent 
to  the  moral  and  spiritual  status  of  the  people.  He 
found  time  that  year  to  attend  and  take  part  in  the 
deliberations  of  the  Baptist  biennial  convention 
which  met  in  Augusta,  and  took  part  then  in  a  great 
debate  between  Dr.  Broadus  and  Dr.  Boyce.  He 


JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN       253 

also  aided  in  the  distribution  of  religious  literature 
among  the  Georgia  troops — literature  whose  un- 
bending orthodoxy,  we  may  be  sure,  was  not  in- 
harmonious with  the  teachings  of  that  great  de- 
nomination of  which  he  was  ever  a  devoted 
member. 

At  the  close  of  1863  the  western  army  of  the 
South  lay  crushed  and  demoralized  at  Dalton.  The 
ill-fated  Bragg,  ever  a  favorite  in  Richmond,  had 
been  forced  by  public  opinion  to  withdraw  from 
his  command.  That  incomparable  organizer  and 
master  of  defensive  warfare,  General  Joseph  E. 
Johnston,  was  appointed  to  succeed  him.  Instantly 
his  reviving  influence  upon  the  broken  and  shat- 
tered brigades,  which  had  been  driven  pell  mell 
from  Missionary  Ridge,  was  felt  throughout  the 
South,  and  was  observed  by  the  Northern  com- 
manders. While  the  army  was  in  winter  quarters 
at  Dalton  its  morale  was  completely  restored. 
Each  brigade  vied  with  all  the  others  in  the  per- 
formance of  every  military  duty.  The  soldiers 
were  well  fed  and  carefully  re-clothed.  Drills  and 
manoeuvres  with  large  bodies,  now  so  common  in 
European  armies,  were  utilized  by  General  John- 
ston to  familiarize  the  rank  and  file  with  extensive 
operations,  and  to  kindle  anew  their  confidence  in 
themselves.  The  spirits  of  the  troops  were  raised 
to  the  highest  pitch  of  warlike  enthusiasm.  Well 
do  I  recall  that  a  comrade  in  that  glorious  brigade 
afterwards  said  to  me  that  he  heard  General 
Johnston  exclaim,  "If  any  command  in  the  army 
can  beat  the  brigade  drill  of  Lewis's  Kentuckians, 
it  can  beat  Hardee's  tactics." 

The  campaign  in  north  Georgia  which  General 
Johnston  conducted  in  1864  is  worthy  to  rank  with 


the  campaigns  of  Fabius.  General  Sherman  had 
98,797  men,  and  254  cannon.  This  was  more 
than  double  the  strength  of  the  Confederate  army 
opposed  to  him.  That  army  was  the  last  hope  of 
Georgia,  and  of  the  South.  Should  it  be  destroyed, 
the  State  would  be  overrun,  the  surrender  of  Lee, 
and  the  downfall  of  the  Confederacy,  but  a  ques- 
tion of  time.  The  policy  of  General  Johnston  was 
to  shelter  his  army,  draw  Sherman  away  from  his 
base  of  supplies,  interrupt  his  communications,  in- 
flict upon  his  adversary  losses  as  heavy  as  possible, 
and  when  he  had  reached  the  great  entrenched 
camp  constituted  by  the  fortifications  of  Atlanta, 
to  hold  this  with  the  State  troops  and  a  slender 
force  of  his  own  veterans,  mass  his  army,  assail 
the  flank  of  his  enemy,  and  like  Stonewall  Jackson 
at  Chancellorsville,  roll  the  opposing  lines  in  a 
sheet  of  flame  to  their  destruction.  Never  was  an 
army  handled  with  more  consummate  skill.  Never 
did  i  retreating  army  have  more  confidence  in  its 
power  to  defeat  the  enemy  when  its  General  should 
order  the  attack.  When  an  order  to  retreat  was 
given,  the  retirement  was  conducted  with  a  defiant 
composure,  and  with  an  insolent  fronting  to  the 
rear  which  was  a  little  short  of  military  insult.  It 
was  a  common  saying  of  the  day  that  Johnston 
would  form  a  line  of  battle  if  a  wagon  broke  down. 
In  no  case  from  Dalton  to  Atlanta  were  his  lines 
broken.  For  seventy-four  days  he  was  fighting 
an  army  double  his  own.  He  lost  in  killed  and 
wounded  9,450  men  and  inflicted  on  Sherman  a 
loss  of  more  than  42,000  men.  When  the  fateful 
and  fatal  order  came  from  Mr.  Davis  for  his 
removal  from  command,  he  turned  over  to  General 
Hood  a  seasoned  army  of  50,627  veterans,  with  a 


JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN       255 

morale  as  high  as  that  of  Napoleon  at  Austerlitz, 
or  of  Lee  at  Fredericksburg.  Students  of  military 
history,  who  have  learned  from  the  campaigns  of 
the  great  Frederick  and  of  Napoleon  the  military 
value  of  entrenched  camps,  such  as  that  which 
Johnston  had  now  reached,  can  appreciate  the  ca- 
lamity which  came  to  the  Southern  arms  by  his 
removal. 

On  the  1 8th  of  July  Hood  took  command  of  that 
gallant  army.  At  once  hurled  against  the  entrench- 
ments, the  massed  artillery  and  the  repeating  rifles 
of  Sherman,  the  evening  of  the  22d  found  its  ef- 
fectiveness practically  destroyed.  It  was  further 
depleted  by  many  successive  days  of  deadly  fight- 
ing. It  was  now  openly  announced  by  the  highest 
Confederate  authority  that  Hood's  army  would  be 
sent  against  Sherman's  communications  in  Tennes- 
see. General  Sherman  at  once  declared,  "If  Hood 
will  go  to  Tennessee,  I  will  give  him  rations  to  go 
with."  He  did  go,  and  the  heroic  remnant  of  that 
army  which  under  Johnston  had  made  the  names 
of  rivers,  and  ridges,  of  villages,  and  country 
churches  in  north  Georgia  forever  glorious  in  the 
annals  of  defensive  warfare,  slaughtered  on  the 
bloody  ramparts  of  Franklin,  and  in  the  carnage 
amid  the  ice  and  snow  of  Nashville,  soon  ceased 
to  exist. 

In  this  tremendous  crisis  in  the  history  of  our 
State,  Governor  Brown  in  aid  of  Johnston  put 
forth  the  utmost  resources  of  that  genius  for  com- 
bination and  that  capacity  for  detail  which  were  na- 
tive with  him,  and  which  had  been  developed  and 
strengthened  by  the  weighty  duties  of  his  long  pub- 
lic life.  Such  is  the  testimony  of  General  Johnston 
himself  as  recorded  in  his  Narrative.  The  Georgia 


256      JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN 

State  troops  loyally  seconded  their  Governor. 
Both  General  Johnston  and  General  Hood  have 
put  on  record  high  estimates  of  their  steadiness 
and  valor.  This  force  was  largely  composed  of  old 
men  not  included  in  the  conscription  laws,  of  State 
officers,  and  of  boys  between  sixteen  and  eighteen. 
It  is  widely  known,  and  is  demonstrable  by  offi- 
cial records,  how  gallantly  these  inexperienced 
Georgians  fought  in  the  battles  around  Atlanta, 
how  on  Sherman's  march  to  the  sea  their  resolute 
courage  on  the  heights  of  East  Macon,  in  sight 
of  the  spot  where  I  now  stand,  saved  our  own 
beautiful  city  from  the  possible  fate  of  Atlanta  and 
Columbia;  how  at  Griswoldville,  ten  miles  away, 
they  desperately  fought  with  fearful  losses,  how 
they  crossed  the  river  into  South  Carolina,  and  at 
Grahamville  repulsed  and  drove  back  with  utter 
defeat  a  powerful  expedition  moving  to  close  Har- 
dee's  line  of  retreat  from  Savannah,  and  thus  saved 
18,000  Confederate  troops  from  certain  capitu- 
lation. 

It  is  impossible  in  this  day  and  time  to  conceive 
the  distress,  humiliation,  and  despair  of  the  people 
of  Georgia  at  the  time  of  which  I  speak.  Abject 
misery  like  a  pall  enshrouded  almost  every  home. 
The  people  were  steeped  in  poverty  to  the  very 
lips.  In  homes  of  former  affluence  children  were 
crying  for  bread.  Not  until  two  years  later  was  it 
possible  that  full  information  of  the  State's  losses 
by  the  war  could  be  obtained.  In  these  two  years 
our  staple,  cotton,  had  brought  sometimes  a  dollar 
a  pound,  and  always  more  than  it  had  ever  brought 
before.  There  had  been  a  marked  recuperation 
of  our  fortunes.  But  even  then  as  compared  with 
our  condition  in  1861  the  aggregate  wealth  of  the 


JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN       257 

State  had  been  reduced  the  almost  incredible  sum 
of  $48 1, 497, 3 8 1.  ^  It  is  perhaps  not  generally 
known  that  Georgia  had  lost  three-fourths  of  her 
entire  wealth,  and  much  more  than  any  other 
Southern  State.  No  other  State  in  the  Confed- 
eracy approximated  ours  in  voluntary  expendi- 
tures in  aid  of  the  war.  Six  millions  of  dollars 
had  been  expended  for  the  destitute  families  of  sol- 
diers, four  millions  in  sending  clothing  alone,  to 
our  troops  in  the  Confederate  Army,  six  millions 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  State  troops,  which  the 
prescience  of  our  Governor  had  foreseen  would 
prove  indispensable  to  the  protection  of  our  homes. 
During  these  gloomy  days  of  energy  and  despair, 
for  the  shelter  of  the  homeless,  for  the  sustenance 
of  the  starving,  for  the  restoration  of  order  in  the 
devastated  section,  by  day  and  by  night  without  a 
hopeless  or  idle  moment,  the  Governor  toiled  as  he 
had  never  toiled  for  the  people  whom  he  loved 
so  well. 

After  the  fall  of  Macon,  and  the  surrender  of 
Lee  and  Johnston,  Governor  Brown  with  the  State 
troops  under  his  command  also  surrendered,  and 
were  paroled  prisoners  of  war.  General  Sherman 
had  declared  that  when  the  armies  of  the  South 
surrendered,  the  autonomy  of  the  States  was  eo 
instanti  restored.  This  view  of  the  Union  general 
was  at  once  repudiated  by  the  Secretary  of  War, 
Edwin  M.  Stanton,  and  afterwards  by  such  leaders 
as  Thaddeus  Stevens.  It  was,  however,  the  unal- 
terable conviction  of  the  great  brain  and  the 
promptings  of  the  magnanimous  heart  of  Abraham 
Lincoln.  William  H.  Seward,  his  brilliant  Secre- 
tary of  State,  whose  masterful  diplomacy  had  con- 
tributed so  much  to  the  success  of  the  Union  arms 


and  to  the  preservation  of  the  Union  itself,  enter- 
tained the  same  opinion.  And  more  conclusive 
than  all,  it  was  thus  finally  settled  by  the  decision 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  in 
Texas  v.  White.  In  those  thrilling  words  of  Chief 
Justice  Chase,  which  Senator  George  F.  Hoar,  in 
after  years,  declared  had  overturned,  baffled,  and 
brought  to  naught  the  policy  of  reconstruction, 
"The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  in  all  of  its 
provisions  looks  to  an  indestructible  Union  of  in- 
destructible States.  The  ordinances  of  secession 
were  utterly  without  operation  in  law.  It  certainly 
follows  that  a  State  did  not  cease  to  be  a  State  nor 
her  citizens  to  be  citizens  of  the  Union." 

It  was  not  difficult  to  convince  our  practical  Gov- 
ernor that  Georgia,  having  attempted  to  secede 
and  having  failed,  had  lost  neither  her  status  nor 
her  rights  as  a  member  of  the  Union.  Certain  it  is 
he  acted  as  if  the  "late  unpleasantness,"  as  it  was 
termed,  should  not  disturb  the  orderly  operations 
of  the  State.  On  the  22d  of  May,  1865,  as  he  was 
accustomed  to  do  of  old,  he  convened  the  General 
Assembly  in  Milledgeville.  Unhappily  and  to  the 
consternation  of  that  body,  the  next  night  the  exec- 
utive mansion  was  surrounded  by  a  military  force, 
the  parole  of  the  Governor  was  ignored,  he  was 
permitted  thirty  minutes  to  make  his  arrangements 
for  departure,  but  not  allowed  a  moment  of  pri- 
vacy with  his  family,  was  hurried  to  Washington, 
and  incarcerated  in  the  old  Capitol  prison.  It  was, 
however,  not  long  before  he  secured  an  interview 
with  Andrew  Johnson,  then  President.  A  minute 
of  the  conversation  which  ensued  between  these 
renowned  Americans  would  be  interesting  reading. 
While  in  most  respects  they  differed  toto  coelo, 


JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN       259 

there  were  some  points  of  resemblance  between 
them.  The  reliance  of  both  was  on  the  masses  of 
the  plain  people.  Besides  a  strong  and  subtle  sym- 
pathy must  have  existed  because  of  the  fact  that 
both  were  Southern  born.  Of  right-minded  men, 
born  under  these  genial  skies,  it  may  be  said,  that 
whatever  their  differences  on  questions  of  national 
polity,  they  ever  cherish  a  common  and  tender 
sympathy  for  that  homogeneous  population,  which 
here  hands  down  from  father  to  son  the  primitive 
virtues  of  the  brave  and  kindly  American  stock. 
The  meeting  was  in  the  White  House.  Those  who 
knew  him  best  can  well  imagine  the  wary  and  skil- 
ful diplomacy,  and  the  exquisite  judgment  with 
which  the  Georgian,  now  for  the  first  time  a  pris- 
oner of  state,  opened  the  vital  question.  At  least 
my  fancy  does  not  hesitate.  "Mr.  President,"  he 
probably  said,  "I  respectfully  submit  that  I  have 
not  been  rightfully  treated  by  your  subordinates, 
who,  of  course,  I  know  must  have  acted  without 
your  knowledge  or  consent.  Their  conduct  is  not 
in  accord  with  those  principles  of  international  law, 
or  rather  laws  of  war  as  laid  down  by  Grotius  in 
his  great  work  De  jure  belli  et  pads,  and  other 
authorities  with  all  of  which  Your  Excellency  is 
entirely  familiar.  The  belligerent  rights  of  the 
South  have  been  recognized  by  the  great  powers, 
and  by  that  powerful  government  to  whose  salva- 
tion Your  Excellency  has  contributed  so  much.  As 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  army  and  navy  of 
Georgia,  I  surrendered  to  General  Wilson.  In 
consideration  of  my  parole  not  to  bear  arms 
against  the  United  States  until  regularly  exchanged, 
I  was  released.  I  have  not  been  exchanged,  neither 
have  I  borne  arms  against  the  United  States.  Not- 


260      JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN 

withstanding  this,  I  was  arrested  in  the  bosom  of 
my  family  and  brought  under  guard  to  this  city 
where  I  am  now  in  durance  vile.  I  make  my  ap- 
peal for  redress  of  these  grievances  to  Your  Excel- 
lency's sense  of  justice  and  statesmanship,  the  rep- 
utation of  which  is  not  restricted  to  the  confines  of 
this  country."  It  is  not  surprising  that  by  Execu- 
tive order  he  was  immediately  released.  He  at 
once  returned  to  Georgia,  and  finding  that  he  was 
not  to  be  permitted  to  exercise  the  functions  of  his 
office,  from  a  sense  of  self-respect,  on  the  28th  of 
June,  1865,  he  resigned  the  gubernatorial  station 
which  he  had  held  without  a  break  since  the  year 
1857. 

It  is  now  known  that  while  in  Washington  he 
had  become  apprised  of  the  mighty  forces  at  work 
to  the  injury  of  his  section.  These,  the  people  here 
could  only  partially  know,  and  could  not  appreci- 
ate at  all.  He  publicly  advised  instant  and  entire 
acquiescence  in  the  abolition  of  slavery,  the  cordial 
support  of  Johnson's  administration,  the  prompt 
and  general  taking  of  amnesty,  the  general  and  un- 
equivocal recognition  of  the  results  of  the  war.  In 
addition  to  this  he  strongly  urged  the  Southern 
people  to  take  such  action  as  would  win  the  power- 
ful friendship  of  General  Grant,  then  the  idol  of 
the  North.  Indeed,  the  generosity  of  this  great 
soldier  to  Lee  and  his  starving  veterans  at  Appo- 
mattox,  and  the  fact  that  he  had  with  indignation 
tendered  his  resignation  as  General-in-Chief  of  the 
United  States  Army,  when  Edwin  M.  Stanton  in 
violation  of  the  parole  of  the  Confederate  com- 
mander ordered  the  arrest  of  General  Lee,  might 
well  have  appealed  to  our  gratitude,  our  confi- 
dence, and  regard.  Most  unhappily  for  Governor 


JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN       261 

Brown,  we  had  little  acquaintance  with  those  prin- 
ciples of  international  law,  which  determine  the 
powers  of  the  conqueror,  and  which  limit  the  rights 
of  the  vanquished.  The  people  of  the  South  were 
of  a  stock  which,  until  then,  for  nearly  a  thousand 
years  had  scarcely  seen  a  hostile  soldier  save  as  a 
prisoner  of  war.  From  the  ashes  of  their  homes 
they  looked  through  the  blood-shot  vision  of  re- 
sentment and  despair.  Their  condition  was  indeed 
anomalous.  Organized  government  to  negotiate 
for  them  did  not  exist.  Their  leaders  were  silent, 
or  if  they  spoke,  but  added  to  the  suspicion  and 
misery,  the  travail  and  fury  of  the  suffering  masses. 
Perhaps  Governor  Brown  failed  to  appreciate  to 
the  full  how  the  people  were  stunned  by  their 
condition.  Perhaps  he  did  not  reflect  that  nearly 
every  home  had  its  vacant  chair;  that  one  man 
whose  draft  for  thousands  would  have  been  gladly 
honored  in  New  Orleans  or  New  York  was  now 
hard  driven  for  bread  and  meat;  that  another 
whose  equipages  were  once  well  known  in  Saratoga 
and  Central  Park,  was  now  riding  a  heavily  mort- 
gaged mule.  Perhaps  he  did  not  fully  realize  that 
there  must  be  lapse  of  time,  and  much  time,  before 
a  people  thus  afflicted  could  take  a  dispassionate 
view  of  public  affairs.  Whatever  may  be  the  cause, 
he  fearlessly  and  promptly  gave  his  counsel  and 
advice.  His  reason,  briefly  stated,  was,  "If  we 
could  not  successfully  resist  the  North  when  we 
had  half  a  million  bayonets  in  the  field,  how  can 
we  resist  it  when  we  have  not  one?"  His  advice 
was,  "Let  us  therefore  accept  the  situation  and 
make  the  best  of  it."  For  years  he  had  been  swim- 
ming with  sure  and  easy  stroke  on  the  floodtide  of 
popular  favor.  He  was  now  to  suffer  such  a  sav- 


262       JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN 

age  and  merciless  revulsion  of  feeling  towards  him, 
as  a  public  man  in  this  country  has  scarcely  ever 
endured.  He  was,  however,  not  to  be  the  only 
victim  of  popular  frenzy  aroused  by  counsel  which, 
though  truthful  and  inevitable,  was  unpalatable  to 
our  people.  Perhaps  the  memory  of  no  Georgian 
is  more  tenderly  cherished  than  that  of  Benjamin 
H.  Hill.  On  the  8th  of  December,  1870,  he  in- 
formed his  people  that  the  Amendments  to  the 
Constitution  were  in  fact,  and  would  be  held,  the 
law,  and  fixed  parts  of  the  National  Constitution; 
that  these  conferred  new  and  enlarged  powers  of 
government,  and  established  new  and  different  re- 
lations between  the  governments  of  the  States. 
While  that  has  been  expressly  decided  by  reiterated 
decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  while  the  Democratic  convention  which 
nominated  Horace  Greeley  in  1872,  and  every  na- 
tional convention  of  that  great  party  since  that  day, 
has  either  expressly  or  by  implication,  reiterated 
the  same  unanswerable  truth,  the  vituperation  with 
which  the  announcement  of  Mr.  Hill  was  greeted, 
rivaled  that  which  howled  around  the  swerveless 
head  of  Governor  Brown.  Mr.  Hill  was  called 
"Radical";  he  was  charged  with  selling  out  to  the 
Republicans.  How  keenly  he  suffered  from  the 
odium  which  assailed  him  was  known  to  his  closest 
friends.  But  he  met  the  storm  bravely.  In  a  pub- 
lic address  he  hurled  a  defiance  at  his  detractors, 
which  rings  like  the  clang  of  steel.  "I  had  rather," 
he  exclaimed,  "be  the  humblest  of  those  who  would 
save  you  and  perish  amid  your  curses  than  be  the 
chiefest  architect  of  your  ruin  and  live  forever  the 
unworthy  recipient  of  your  deluded  huzzas."  This 
was  in  1872.  Three  years  later  by  an  overwhelm- 


JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN       263 

ing  majority,  in  that  mountain  district  which  has 
ever  cast  the  largest  white  vote  in  Georgia,  he 
was  swept  into  the  proud  position  of  Representa- 
tive in  Congress.  There,  by  his  surpassing  elo- 
quence, he  defended  the  humanity  and  character 
of  his  people,  and  less  than  two  years  later,  after  a 
campaign  of  rarely  equaled  bitterness  he  was  given 
to  hold,  with  ever-increasing  distinction  to  the  day 
of  his  death,  the  lofty  commission  of  Georgia  in 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  Here  he  was 
soon  joined  by  Joseph  E.  Brown.  Inspiring  com- 
mentary on  the  character  and  magnanimity  of  our 
institutions !  Bitter  rivals  in  the  days  of  their 
youth,  having  done  perhaps  more  than  any  others 
in  civil  life  to  uphold  the  fortunes  of  the  Confed- 
eracy, par  nobile  fratrum,they  were  now  welcomed 
by  the  magnanimous  genius  of  free  popular  gov- 
ernment to  the  loftiest  councils  of  that  nation  they 
had  attempted  to  disrupt.  There,  with  true  and 
manly  allegiance,  renewed  under  its  beauteous  ban- 
ner, "with  not  a  star  erased  and  not  a  stripe  pol- 
luted," with  united  hearts  and  locked  shields  for 
the  defense  of  Georgia  and  the  glory  of  the  Great 
Republic  they  were  henceforth  to  keep  step  to  the 
music  of  the  Union.  Some  there  are  in  this  vast 
audience,  who  for  both,  labored  to  bring  about  this 
great  result.  To  both  there  was  fierce  opposition. 
In  a  great  speech  to  the  General  Assembly  of 
Georgia  on  the  night  of  the  I5th  of  November, 
1880,  in  clear,  shrewd,  and  homely  vein,  quite  as 
charming  to  his  cultivated  audience  as  it  would 
have  been  to  the  accustomed  gathering  on  the  "law 
ground"  at  Gaddistown,  Senator  Brown  gave  illus- 
tration of  the  unreconciled,  unreconstructed  state 
of  mind  of  certain  of  his  opponents.  He  said:  "It 


264      JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN 

is  very  well  illustrated  by  the  story  of  the  old  gen- 
tleman in  one  of  the  counties  between  here  and  the 
Savannah  River.  He  and  his  old  lady  started  in 
the  buggy  to  visit  some  friends  and  on  the  way  had 
to  cross  the  river.  In  going  down  into  the  flat, 
one  of  the  straps  broke,  and  the  buggy  ran  upon  the 
heels  of  the  horse,  and  he  kicked  himself  loose  and 
ran  back  home.  The  good  old  lady,  who  believed 
in  the  policy  of  reconstructing,  gathered  up  the 
fragments  of  the  harness  and  started  for  home. 
The  old  man  refused  to  go,  but  sat  down  on  the 
river  bank  and  commenced  cursing.  The  old  lady, 
however,  carried  the  pieces  home,  got  an  awl  and 
an  'end'  as  they  call  it,  and  began  repairing  the 
harness.  And  finding  the  horse  at  home,  she  told 
the  servant  to  take  him  and  go  down  to  the  river 
and  meet  the  old  man  and  bring  him  home.  After 
an  absence  of  an  hour  or  so  the  servant  returned, 
and  she  asked,  'Where  is  the  old  man?'  And  he 
said,  'He  wouldn't  come.'  Then  she  said,  'What  is 
he  doing?'  The  servant  said,  'He  is  still  sittin' 
down  on  the  river  bank  cussin'." 

The  Senator  continued,  "We  were  obliged  to 
move  forward,  but,  like  the  good  old  lady,  we  sent 
the  horse  back  for  him,  and  he  still  refuses  to 
come;  and  the  report  is  that  he  is  still  sitting  on 
the  river  bank  'cussin'.'  And  as  the  country  must 
move  forward,  we  are  obliged  to  leave  him  there 
and  let  him  cuss."  He  concluded  that  great  speech 
with  the  brave  declaration :  "I  feel  that  I  have  been 
true  to  you,  true  to  my  State,  true  to  the  whole 
country.  I  told  you  the  truth  when  it  was  exceed- 
ingly unpalatable.  I  did  not  shrink  from  the  re- 
sponsibility, and  I  have  passed  through  a  hard  or- 
deal. I  knew  my  vindication  was  only  a  question 


JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN       265 

of  time,  and  I  have  never  doubted  that  truth  would 
prevail." 

On  the  day  following,  by  a  two-thirds  majority, 
over  a  most  distinguished  and  worthy  opponent, 
the  General  Assembly  of  Georgia  elected  him  Sena- 
tor of  the  United  States,  and  when  the  term  for 
which  he  was  then  chosen  had  expired,  with  one 
exception,  he  received  every  vote,  for  the  following 
Senatorial  term.  He  was  now  an  old  man.  Said 
Senator  Lamar  of  Mississippi,  "The  ease  and  dig- 
nity and  power  with  which  he  had  established  him- 
self as  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Senate  was  simply 
marvelous."  Of  his  first  speech  Mr.  Elaine  play- 
fully said,  "I  never  heard  so  fine  a  speech  from  so 
young  a  Senator."  But  once,  and  then  only  for  a 
few  hours,  were  Georgians  distressed  because  of 
his  Senatorial  career.  He  became  involved  in  a 
controversy  with  Senator  Ingalls  of  Kansas.  In- 
galls  had  obviously  premeditated  his  attack.  He 
was  a  master  of  mordacious  and  sarcastic  English. 
With  merciless  and  withering  invective,  he  assailed 
the  venerable  and  placid  Senator  from  Georgia, 
who  taken  by  surprise,  and  much  to  the  discom- 
fiture of  his  friends,  replied  as  best  he  could. 
Downcast  and  humiliated  that  day,  were  the 
Georgians  in  the  Capital  City,  but  before  midnight 
their  gloom  was  dispelled.  That  evening  Senator 
Brown  met  his  secretary,  the  late  Henry  Richard- 
son, whose  visage  would  have  made  a  frontispiece 
for  the  book  of  Lamentations.  The  Senator  was 
entirely  composed.  He  asked,  "Henry,  were  you 
present  at  the  debate  this  morning  between  the 
Senator  from  Kansas  and  myself?"  "Yes,  Sena- 
tor," said  Henry,  with  downcast  eyes.  "Well, 
Henry,"  said  the  old  gladiator,  "if  you  think  that 


266      JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN 

I  was  too  hard  on  him,  remember  that  he  brought 
it  on  himself." 

In  all  the  intervening  years  and  to  the  end  of  his 
strength  he  abated  nothing  of  the  energy  of  his 
life  work,  nor  one  whit  of  its  usefulness  and  benefi- 
cence to  his  fellow-men.  As  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Georgia  he  had  handed  down 
decisions,  many  of  which  will  forever  live  as  vital 
and  controlling  principles  of  our  jurisprudence. 
Resigning  this  high  station  when  he  had  many 
years  to  serve,  he  became  president  of  the  lessee 
company  of  that  great  railroad  which  is  the  prop- 
erty of  the  State.  With  fidelity  the  most  scrupu- 
lous, in  this  capacity  he  performed  its  every  obliga- 
tion. With  that  business  sagacity  which  had  ever 
marked  him  from  boyhood,  he  had  accumulated 
large  wealth.  This  also,  like  his  other  powers,  he 
used  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellow-men.  Innumer- 
able were  the  instances  of  his  private  benevolence. 
While  to  the  churches,  charities,  and  denomina- 
tional colleges  of  his  own  faith  he  gave  large  sums, 
his  munificence  extended  also  to  the;  charities  of 
other  denominations.  Upon  the  Southern  Baptist 
Theological  Seminary  of  Louisville  he  bestowed 
an  endowment  of  $53,000.  His  beloved  son, 
Charles  McDonald  Brown,  had  died  in  young 
manhood.  The  bereaved  father  determined  to 
create  a  monument  to  the  dead  son,  "more  endur- 
ing than  brass  and  loftier  than  the  regal  summits 
of  the  pyramids."  To  the  trustees  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Georgia  with  habitual  directness  he  wrote: 
"I  know  from  experience  in  early  life  the  feelings 
of  a  youth,  desirous  of  educating  himself,  without 
the  means  to  do  so.  I  preferred  to  live  plainly  and 
cheaply  and  study  hard,  rather  than  be  too  much 


JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN       267 

'  i;*ti 
loaded  with  debt,  but  I  considered  myself  very 

fortunate  when  I  was  able  to  borrow  the  amount 
actually  necessary  for  the  prosecution  of  my 
studies,  even  to  a  limited  extent.  And  I  doubt  not 
there  are  at  this  time  large  numbers  of  young  men 
in  similar  situations,  who  are  prompted  by  the  same 
feelings.  The  object  of  this  donation  is  to  establish 
a  fund  in  the  hands  of  the  University,  the  interest 
of  which  is  to  be  loaned  to  young  men  of  the  char- 
acter I  mention."  With  that  gratefulness  which 
was  to  the  last  an  animating  principle  of  his  life, 
the  old  man  made  special  provision  for  the  college 
at  Dahlonega,  and  for  the  mountain  section,  the 
home  of  his  struggling  youth.  He  wrote  to  the 
trustees,  "This  was  the  theater  of  my  early  strug- 
gle with  poverty,  and  I  wish  to  pay  its  people  who 
have  sympathized  with  and  supported  me  in  every 
emergency,  this  small  tribute  of  my  grateful  recol- 
lections." To  these  ends,  he  created  the  Charles 
McDonald  Brown  Fund  by  a  donation  of  $50,000 
to  the  University  of  Georgia.  Already  nearly 
one  hundred  young  men  have  been  the  beneficiaries 
of  that  gift  to  poor  but  worthy  and  ambitious 
youth.  Who  can  estimate  the  light  of  the  mind  it 
has  kindled,  the  love  of  learning  it  has  fostered, 
the  nobility  of  character  it  has  created,  the  bless- 
ings to  all  the  future  it  may  bestow. 

Of  this  great  man  it  may  be  said  that  no  one  ever 
heard  him  utter  a  profane  or  an  impure  word,  or 
suggest  an  unclean  thought.  Receiving  his  intel- 
lectual and  legal  training  at  a  period  of  our  history 
when  most  were  taught  that  the  supreme  obliga- 
tion of  citizenship  was  to  the  State,  the  dominant 
principle  of  his  patriotism  was  love  for  Georgia, 


268       JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN 

love  for  her  people,  and  particularly  for  her  plain 
people. 

To  the  devotedness  of  his  friendships,  and  to 
the  beautiful  development  in  his  nature  of  the 
principle  of  gratitude,  even  for  favors  the  most 
trivial,  there  are  thousands  yet  living  who  can 
gratefully  testify. 

But  a  few  days  before  he  passed  to  his  reward,  I 
stood  by  his  bedside.  Although  he  was  bended 
with  the  long  agony  of  his  suffering,  I  ventured  a 
word  of  encouragement  and  hope.  "No,  Judge," 
he  sadly  replied,  "when  I  was  in  the  railroad  busi- 
ness I  once  talked  with  the  master  mechanic  at  our 
shops  about  the  repair  of  an  old  engine.  He  said, 
'Governor,  it's  no  use,  the  old  machine  is  worn 
out.'  That  is  the  way  with  me  now."  It  was 
but  too  true.  That  marvelous  machine  impelled 
by  the  mortal  powers  of  Joseph  E.  Brown  was  at 
last  worn  out  and  worn  out  in  the  service  of  his 
people. 

The  supreme  value  of  his  noble  life  is  the  inspi- 
ration and  encouragement  it  affords  our  country's 
youth.  It  makes  plain,  the  creation  of  character, 
and  the  achievements  possible  to  the  sons  of  those, 
the  story  of  whose  ancestry  is  recorded  in  the  short 
and  simple  annals  of  the  poor. 

To  contemplate  the  successive  pictures  which 
present  his  marvelous  career  has  been  a  grateful 
task,  but  those  scenes  upon  which  I  love  to  "brood 
with  miser  care"  do  not  relate  so  much  to  the  days 
of  its  greatness  as  of  its  beginning.  On  the  day 
of  his  funeral,  among  the  thousands  who  loved  him 
massed  in  Georgia's  Representatives'  Hall,  I  stood 
beside  the  venerable  form,  majestic  in  the  peaceful- 
ness  of  death,  and  beheld  for  the  last  time  the 


JOSEPH  EMERSON  BROWN       269 

noble  face  now  made  ethereal  as  if  by  the  last 
caresses  of  angel  hands  which  had  borne  the 
loosened  spirit  to  the  home  eternal  in  the  Heavens 
to  hear  the  words  of  the  Master,  "Well  done: 
thou  good  and  faithful  servant:  enter  thou  into 
the  joys  of  thy  Lord."  Even  then  irresistible 
thoughts  and  words  were  of  his  boyhood  in  the  re- 
mote sequestered  vale;  of  his  humble  home,  such 
homes  as  sent  forth  Andrew  Jackson  and  Abra- 
ham Lincoln.  And  now,  beyond  the  azure  moun- 
tains, and  through  the  vista  of  all  the  years,  I  see 
the  boy  as  with  untiring  hand  he  turns  the  spinning- 
wheel,  as  he  swings  the  axe,  as  he  guides  the  plow, 
as  in  sportive  moments  he  breasts  the  bright  waters 
of  the  mountain  stream,  or  when  worn  with  toil,  he 
bathes  his  weary  feet  in  its  shining  shallows.  And 
my  heart  goes  out  to  him,  as  followed  by  the  long- 
ing and  loving  eyes  of  mother  and  father,  he  waves 
them  a  brave  farewell,  and  with  his  little  oxen  up 
and  over  the  mountain  disappears  from  their  sight, 
to  enter  on  that  great  life  I  have  attempted  to  de- 
scribe, on  that  mission  for  humanity  for  which  the 
God  of  nature  had  designed  him.  Oh,  my  young 
countrymen,  contemplate  his  character  and  dwell 
upon  his  career,  for 

"Lives  of  great  men  all  remind  us 
We  can  make  our  lives  sublime." 


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